


A Trollhunter and His Dragon

by Khaleesi_0f_Trolls



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons), Trollhunters - Daniel Kraus & Guillermo del Toro
Genre: AU where the dragons from HTTYD exist in the same universe as Tales of Arcadia, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Angst, Dragon Rider Jim Lake, Dragon and dragon rider, Dragons, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2020-10-19 18:23:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 27,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20661689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khaleesi_0f_Trolls/pseuds/Khaleesi_0f_Trolls
Summary: Jim didn't think dragons like the ones in an old book he used to read as a child existed, but if trolls exist so could these great beasts...right?He wasn't expecting to find anything in the old caves deep under Arcadia, and he certainly wasn't expecting to find a dragon either





	1. There Once Were Dragons

_ "Mom, read this one to me, please?" _

_ Jim watched as his mother cracked a smile when she saw what book he was holding, that large leather book with strange writing scribbled on the front, an old language he wasn't sure even existed. He followed his mother to the couch and tossed the book onto it before clambering on himself and snuggled next to his mother as he waited for her to start reading. _

_ " _ There once were dragons when I was a boy, great beasts big enough to move mountains and break islands to smaller ones big enough to fit in the palm of your hand. _ " Barbara read as she took his hand to trace the drawings of the strange creatures on the pages, a big smile on his face. " _ There was a time when we were at war with these great beasts, but I never knew the reason how it began, but I know how it ended. And this all started when I- _ " _

_ "Befriended the most dangerous of dragons!" Jim shouted excitedly, earning a chuckle from his mother. _

_ "Do you want me to finish the story or not?" _

_ "Please do!" _

_ Jim listened as his mother read on the old story, one of a young boy who was an outcast to his people and befriended a rare and dangerous dragon, thus ending the long war their species had been at for hundreds of years. _

_ "Mom, why did the dragons have to go in the story?" Jim asked as his mother carefully closed the book and placed it on the coffee table. "They moved to a new island to keep all the dragons safe, his friend didn't have to leave him." _

_ "Well...it was to keep the dragons safe Jim, because he didn't think dragons and humans were ready to live together forever." Barbara explained as she glanced at her watch. "That's why they went to live in that underground sanctuary under the sea. Now, time for bed." _

_ As Jim was trying to go to sleep that night, he just couldn't. He slipped out of his bed and tiptoes to his bookshelf, feeling for the familiar leather cover until he felt it and pulled it right out of the shelf. Taking his flashlight from his desk, she slipped back into his bed and pulled the covers over him before switching on the light to open to the middle of the book. His fingers grazed over the drawing of the black dragon on the pages in front of him, imagining what his scales would have felt like if he were real. _

_ "Night Fury...the offspring of lightning and death itself." He whispered to himself. It would have been nice to have a friend like him, and like the boy in the story he wouldn't have been so alone. The dragon could walk or fly him and Toby to school, he would have defended them both from school bullies, and they would have gone on great adventures together if dragons really existed. If only... _

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

"Hey look what I found when cleaning the basement!" Barbara called as she dropped a box of old books on the coffee table next to Jim. "Remember these? You used to always grab a book and beg me to read it to you on nights I didn't have to work a night shift."

"Oh...oh these I haven't seen in ages." Jim laughed as he picked up one of the books and dusted off the cover. "_ Frog and Toad _ , I loved these. _ Jigsaw Jones _, man I loved those kid detective books. What do we do with these?"

"Well I was planning on taking them to the thrift store, but maybe you wanna keep some of these for old times sake."

As his mother walked back towards the kitchen, Jim began to dig around the old box. He found various other kid detective books he always brought home from the library when they were having a discarding sale, along with some more thicker ones like _ Charlotte's Web _, some books from an old book series of kids trying to prove every weird and new adult they encountered was some weird monster or something along those lines. And then he found what he had been looking for, that old leather covered book his mom gave him for his sixth birthday. As much as he hated celebrating his birthday after what happened on his fifth one, this was the only gift his mother insisted he'd open to at least see what it was.

Taking care not to crack the cover, Jim carefully opened the book to find the faded drawings he so loved to look at every time he read the book on his own or gave to his mom to read, old drawings of dragons of every shape and size, faded drawings of a boy his age befriending that black dragon he would fall asleep dreaming about, becoming heroes before they had to go separate ways. He always seemed to hate that ending, never quite understanding why the two friends couldn't stay together like they should have.

"I'll probably never understand." He said to himself with a soft chuckle. "But even now that I know trolls exist, does this mean dragons do as well?"


	2. Deep Under Trollmarket

"Wow...I've never seen a book like this before." Claire commented as she shut the book close. "Where did your mom get this?"

"I don't know, probably at some yard sale or something. I can't even understand the title on the cover." Jim said with a shrug as she hands him back the book before he slips it into his locker. "I don't even think that language exists, and it's not even Trollish."

"Actually from the looks of the etchings on the cover, it's old Norse. Not sure what it says, but I think there's a translator for it on the internet somewhere. What did you bring this for?"

Ah. Jim had completely forgotten he had placed the old book in his backpack that morning after his mom had brought it upstairs from the basement, and it was already too late to get home to put it back so he'd have to keep it in his locker.

"That was accidental, but it'd save me time to take it to Blinky to show it to him." Jim admits as he opens his locker to put it away. "Toby was so happy seeing the book again, when we were little he loved playing this game inspired by the stories in the book. We loved pretending to be Viking dragon riders in search of treasure or fighting evil dragon hunters and trappers."

"Sounded like a fun game." Claire chuckles as Jim shuts the door to his locker after placing the book between his math and science textbooks.

"There were mentions of trolls in the books, ones that apparently stole and ate socks, kind of like Notenrique. Vikings in the story used to name their children weird or terrifying things to scare them away."

Claire wrinkled her nose at the memory of her fake brother scarfing down socks like they were candy. "I doubt a name like Fishlegs would scare a troll like that. But it would be interesting if the trolls in the story actually were like the ones we know."

"Only one way to find out." Jim chuckles as his phone starts to ring. He pulls it out of his pocket and mentally groans. "Bagdwella is calling... probably another gnome problem."

"Hey Jimbo! Guess what I found in-" Toby, who had approached his friends, was cut off by the loud screaming from Jim's phone as his friend tried to muffle it.

"Yep, gnome problem." Jim muttered as he ended the call. "Gotta answer the call."

"Man why does it  _ always _ gotta be gnomes with this lady?" Toby groaned as he and Claire started to follow Jim to exit the school. "Also ever since Bular died we haven't had a serious call. It's always gnomes, someone needs help naming their baby something, or a marriage dispute."

"Every call is important, no matter how small it is." Jim points out as the slip through the front gates and started to walk faster down the street. "Also the naming baby thing isn't so bad, I just had to whip out my phone and look up cool sounding names with certain meanings the parents wanted."

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

"So...a gnome stole a super valuable trinket from the shop and you need me to get it." Jim asked a super flustered and upset Bagdwella. "What does this even look like?"

"An old family heirloom, it's very very important!" The shopkeeper explained and huffed angrily. "After the first time I thought all the gnomes would stop but no! One had to steal this pin passed down by my great great grandmother when we used to live in the Old World! I need it back! They can take anything they want, but that pin is irreplaceable!"

"Which way did the gnome go?" Jim asked, hoping to get this job done before professor Uhl noticed he was gone.

"The old tunnels, but be careful Trollhunter! Many trolls have wandered in there and only pieces of their remains could be found outside the caves!" Bagdwella warned and bit her lip. "Or perhaps you shouldn't go, best not lose a Trollhunter so quickly after he's defeated Bular."

"I'll go down there, I'm sure whatever is down there can't be as dangerous as Bular." Jim tried to assure her. "If this heirloom is so important, I'll try my best to get it back."

"The old tunnels! Master Jim, are you so sure about going down there?" Blinky asked when Jim left the shop.

"Old family heirloom, apparently the gnome headed in that direction." Jim says as he takes the amulet from his pocket. "I'm sure it didn't directly go  _ into _ the tunnels. And what's down there that's so bad?"

Blinky shuddered. "Oooh the stories you'd hear about what dwells down there are enough to give poor Aaaarrggh nightmares."

Aaaarrggh shuddered and looked at him sheepishly. "Monsters, scarier than Gum-Gums." The Kubera commented and shuddered again. "Scary."

"He is right master Jim, no one knows what's down there exactly, but whatever it is seems to enjoy frightening us by leaving the remains of trolls outside the caves. Why one time I recall Kanjigar going down there once and swore he heard loud growling and several creatures with glowing eyes!"

"And no one has ever bothered to investigate it, at all?" Jim asks with a frown. "I suppose I should at least see what it is after retrieving the heirloom and tell you what I find."

"It would be good if you found any sort of evidence of whatever is down there, could give us a clue on what could be down there frightening poor trolls." Blinky agreed and nodded. "Be cautious, and don't be afraid to call us for help."

The gnome's footprints were easy to find on his way to the tunnels, and Jim actually managed to find the little creature hiding in a pile of rocks. Nearly took his fingers off when he tried to take the pin away, but after bartering with it to exchange a Nougat Mummy for the pin, the gnome scampered off with it's new treat and a big smile on its face.

"Now, what are you hiding?" Jim muttered as he held Daylight out in front of him, approaching the tunnel carefully. So far he hasn't seen or heard anything strange inside the caves, so that was good at least.

_ Maybe whatever it is it's probably dead or something, or just slid into hiding after getting tired of being hassled by trolls. _ Jim thought as he went deeper. He was about to turn back when he spotted something on the floor. Curious, he bent down to pick the object up to examine it.

Using the light from his sword, Jim could see that the object was black and smooth, kind of like a stone but it was very flat as well. There were more of these on the floor, and as Jim bent down to examine them, he noticed weird scratch marks.

"What in the world-"

A soft growl sounded from behind him, and the Trollhunter whipped around with sword out in front of him. Nothing. Wary now, Jim looked around the tunnel, noticing even more scratch marks on the walls and what looked like scorch marks as well. He heard the growl again from behind him and slowly turned to see if he could find the source.

"Whatever you are, I can hear you, I know you're here!" Jim called as he gripped the handle of Daylight more tightly. "Come on out, if you don't attack me I won't attack you- I promise."

He was almost expecting a harsh laugh of some sort, or a voice sneering at him about something, but instead he heard a small growl behind him again. Slowly turning around, Jim found a pair of bright blue eyes in the darkness staring back at him. He could sort of see the outline of the creature in the dark, and it was a few feet away from him and out of range of his blade.

"Hey it's okay, I won't hurt you." Jim shoved his sword into the ground next to him and stepped away from it. The blue eyes blinked and stepped forward. Jim could see a sort of cat like outline in the darkness as it slowly walked towards him, eventually coming close enough for him to see it properly.

"Oh my god…" Jim whispered when he saw what it was. Standing right in front of him, a creature he'd only seen in that old book he loved to read, right down from its shape and form save for a few pale white spots sprinkled around its eyes like little stars and on its paws and a very confused but curious expression in its eyes. "It's a dragon."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright originally this dragon character I've just introduced originally was created long before the reveal of some stuff from HTTYD 3. After some info of the film was released I took the liberty of adding some of that to this story. If you followed me on Tumblr during the time I was posting my HTTYD/Trollhunters stuff you'd know this dragon's name and some.of the funny shenanigans they get into after meeting Jim


	3. Followed Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Much lengthier chapter than the first two, hope y'all enjoy it!
> 
> Also I drew some art of Jim's dragon and I'll be adding more details to it later
> 
> https://www.instagram.com/p/B2k9quGFgVf/?igshid=rehdn523y9tf

Jim wasn't even sure if he should scream and run or shout in joy. On one hand, his childhood dream of finding a real dragon had come true, and on the other hand, he was stuck in a tunnel every troll in Trollmarket was terrified of even getting near with a dragon that could probably kill him in an instant.

This dragon looked so much like that dragon in the book, the one he dreamed about having, yet at the same time it looked so different. From the light coming off his sword Jim could see that it had flecks of white where it should be black, it's tail fins were rounded and the fin on its back looked a lot like a fish fin instead of little spikes.

"So weird...you look like a Night Fury but at the same time you don't." Jim muttered as the dragon edged closer to him, it's nose twitching in curiosity. Though he was sure it was much more interested in the glowing sword than him.

"Master Jim! Are you still alive?" He heard Blinky yell, his voice faint but still loud enough for him to hear.

"Still alive!" Jim yelled back. "Uh...there's nothing down here!"

"Are you sure? No claw marks or dead bodies?"

"Nope! I'm heading back now!"

As Jim pulled Daylight out of the ground, he gave a startled yelp when he saw the dragon's face looming inches from him, it's bright blue eyes on the glowing amulet on his chest.

"No you can't have it, it's shiny but it's mine." He said stepping away from the dragon as it raises one paw to reach out and touch the amulet. "Okay this is getting weird, and I got to go."

As he quickly moved away, Jim heard a croon and glanced behind him to find the not Night Fury following him.

“No no, I go and you stay.” Jim ordered, pointing at the dragon and pointed at the floor. “No following.”

As he turned to walk out of the tunnel, he glanced behind him to find the dragon gone, earning a sigh of relief before Jim continued walking forward and out of the tunnel.

Master Jim! Thank Deya you're still alive, and with all your limbs intact too!" Blinky exclaimed as Jim emerged from the tunnels and held up the pin in his hand. "And you've managed to retrieve Bagdwella's pin as well! Earlier a gnome came running out of the tunnels with a candy bar in it's grasp and I knew you found a way to get the heirloom without losing a finger!"

"Smell funny." Aaaarrggh said as he sniffed the top of Jim's head. "Don't know why."

"Well he has been inside of a tunnel void of any troll odors, but I'm sure after bathing at home he'll smell like himself again." Blinky said as he led Jim back towards the outskirts of Trollmarket where Draal, Toby, Claire and Vendel were waiting.

"Still alive, found nothing down there." Jim said as he approached the elder troll. "Maybe whatever it was is possibly dead?"

"Possibly, but I'd ask you Trollhunter not to go running into that part of the caves again." Vendel warned him with a grown. "It might still be down there, and should it arise and attack our city you are to kill it on sight. I've already had to see so many good friends of mine come back in pieces."

"There's a monster down there?" Claire asks as they start to walk back into Trollmarket.

"Something like that, we're not sure what it is." Blinky replied and put a finger to his lips. "Now hush, we must not speak of it so openly here."

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

"Hey Tobes, do you ever remember if the dragon book mentioned there being black and white dragons?" Jim asked his friend as they were walking back to his house.

"Mmm...nope I don't remember." Toby replied as he was reading through the book Jim had handed him earlier. "You know it'd be so cool if there was a book on all these dragons mentioned in this. Like their stats, eating habits, eggs, that sort of stuff. Whoever wrote this had a great imagination."

"Okay what about a dragon looking similar to a Night Fury?" Jim suggests.

"According to the book the closet looking things to a Night Fury were like Sand Wraiths and this." Toby held up the book to show Jim a drawing of a white dragon that looked an awful lot like the one he saw in the tunnels, only without the black and with a much smoother head. "Says here it's called a Light Fury, and it has the ability to make itself invisible with it's fire. And because the Night Fury in the story was the last of his kind, he took a female Light Fury for a mate. Kind of cute that apparently these dragons mate for life, kind of like some birds."

"Yeah, but are you sure there's no mention of a look alike that's both black and white?"

"Hold up...oh yeah! Night Lights!" Toby held up the book to show three baby dragons, all black and white. "Book says they were the offspring of the last Night Fury and his Light Fury mate."

_ So that's what it was. _ Jim thought as he took the book from his friend. Though these baby dragons didn't really have the same white fin and round tail fin like the dragon he saw, they shared more or less the same characteristics.

"You know, I missed it when we used to play Vikings and Dragons, I've still got that homemade helmet and floppy cardboard sword I used to play with when we played." Toby comments as they arrive to their houses. "Welp, see ya tomorrow morning. Remember we gotta pick Claire up from her house so we could ride to school together and avoid getting there late. G'night!"

Jim waved as he headed back to his house, the old leather book tucked under his arm as he entered the house. His mother was gone for the night, he had no Trollhunter duties for the night either, so he could sit down and finish his homework. At the moment he had to finish a math assignment Miss Janeth had passed out earlier that Claire passed off to him along with his English homework.

“FInally, I can actually relax doing this.” Jim sighed as he pulled his assignments out of his bag, dropped it on the couch and walked into the dining room to sit down and began working on them.

So far the math actually felt easy today, and his English homework was just to write a book report on a fantasy book. As he was starting to finish up his homework, Jim heard something fall over in the living room and looked up from the papers.

“Draal? Are you here?” He called, pushing his chair back to stand up. No response. Suspicious, JIm got up from his chair and walked into the living room to find his bag on the floor instead of on the couch where he last had it. He knelt down to pick up and gasped when he saw the amulet was missing.

"No no no! Where is it, where is it?!" Jim groaned as he began looking under the couch and pulling cushions out to find it, only to turn up empty-handed. "Okay okay Jim, relax. The amulet always appears back within your reach no matter what, just gotta be patient for it."

As he carefully put back cushions and pillows onto the couch, Jim heard a loud warbling noise and froze. Turning around slowly, he found himself looking right at that weird dragon from the tunnels, seated on one of the arm chairs with the amulet in its mouth.

"Wait how did you- I just- oh come on!" Jim groaned as the creature gave a muffled warbling noise. "Okay spit that out, give it here."

He held his hand out to the dragon, hoping it'd listen and drop the amulet into his hand. However, this dragon seemed to have other ideas. It gave Jim an annoyed look before it tipped it's head back and opened its mouth to let the amulet drop right down it's throat. Jim gave a loud scream of horror as the dragon swallowed the amulet, licking its lips before it gave him a gummy smile, looking quite pleased with itself.

"Cough it up! Cough that up right now!" Jim screamed as he grabbed the dragon's mouth to pry it open. The beast growled and takes its head out of his grasp before jumping off the couch to slink into the dining room. "No bad dragon! Leave my homework alone!" He yelled as it started sniffing his papers and nosing his pencils before he quickly pushed its head away from the table.

"Bad dragon! I told you to stay in the caves!" Jim scolded as the dragon decided to wander into the kitchen. "No leave that blender alone!"

Somehow he managed to pull the dragon back into the living room, only for it to decide to climb up the stairs to the second floor. It pushed open doors with its head as Jim tried to keep it from entering the rooms before it reached his room and stepped inside.

"Okay you need to go, like right now before my mom gets here." Jim warned as the dragon started poking things with its nose before reaching his bed. "Seriously, what's it going to take to get you out of the house before someone sees you?"

The dragon gave him an unamused look, which would have been comical if it hadn't made a weird face and started to make a noise similar to a cat with a hairball in its throat.

"What are you even- not my pillow!" The dragon coughed up and spat out something onto Jim's pillow before licking its lips and looked back at him. Much to his relief, it was the amulet, still intact and alright save for being covered in sticky dragon saliva.

"You...you are something else." Jim muttered as he picked up the amulet with his fingertips and the dragon gave a chortle that sounded like a laugh. "Okay, now are you going to leave or…"

With a snort, the dragon walked over to a corner of Jim's room and turned in a small circle before lying down on the floor.

"Or you're going to sleep here." Jim muttered and ran a hand through his hair. "Okay fine, but you better leave by morning before my mom gets here."


	4. History of Dragons and Trolls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I don't know how to add photos to my story chapters on here, y'all are gonna have to see my art of ATAHD on Instagram or on Tumblr (if I post it there) until I figure out how to post it here  
In the meantime I'm gonna try drawing something that may appear here later in the story for an Inktober sketch

Jim awoke the next morning to something warm and wet touching his face. He sleepily opened his eyes to find something black in his vision, and sat up to rub his eyes.

“You’re still here?” He yawned when he saw it was the dragon from last night. He had been hoping it was all just a dream, that he had fallen asleep doing homework and hallucinated the giant Night Light Fury in his house. But it seemed like this definitely wasn't a dream, especially since the amulet still felt a bit wet from last night.

Getting up from his bed, Jim walked out of the room and poked his head into his mother's room to find her passed out under her blankets, much to his relief. And a good thing it was Friday too.

"Okay you need to go, like right now before my mom wakes up." Jim whispered as he shut the door. The dragon had followed him right out of his room and was now standing behind him with a curious look in its eyes as it watched him. Kind of unsettling but it was better that it didn’t have a hungry look in its eyes. “Let me guess, you’re hungry?”

The dragon made an excited noise before Jim tried to quiet it down. The dragon quickly moved passed him to carefully walk down the stairs as Jim followed close behind before running into the kitchen and nearly knocked the coffee table over on it's way there.

_ Come to think of it...what other things does this dragon eat? _ Jim wondered as he entered the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. _ Aside from fish, sheep, yaks and boars that is. And we don't have chicken here either, so maybe I should wait until the supermarket opens to get some fish? _

Inside all he could find were some brown bananas, a packet of sandwich ham, leftover meatloaf he made last week, lunches that he made last night before finishing his homework, and a container of something he couldn't remember seeing before.

"Okay maybe you'd like some meatloaf?" Jim suggests as he pulls the tinfoil covered container out and shows it to the dragon. Come to think of it now, was this dragon male or female? The book never really mentioned gender differences between the dragons.

Shaking his head of the thought and deciding to deal with it later, Jim pulls off the foil as carefully as he could before setting it down in front of the Night Light. The dragon crooned happy before flopping down on the ground to tear into the food.

_ Why am I even feeding it? _ Jim wonders to himself as he moves into the kitchen to grab a bowl and a box of cereal from the cabinets. _ I mean I know I shouldn't, but I'm gonna feel guilty later about kicking it out of the house on an empty stomach. How do I get it back to Trollmarket without it being seen though? _

As he started to eat, Jim felt his cellphone vibrate and flipped it open to find a message from Toby to remind him to get up. Glancing over at the dragon, who was licking the mess it made of the meatloaf off the floor, Jim quickly pulled out three paper bags from the refrigerator and placed them on the table.

“Don’t even think about it.” He warns as the dragon lifted it’s head to sniff the packages. “Now that you’ve eaten, let’s get you home before my mom finds you.”

The Night Light really didn’t seem to like that idea, expressing it’s upsetness by wandering into the living room and jumping onto the couch with an annoyed face.

“Come on, you need to go home, I don’t want to have to drag you outside myself in broad daylight." Another annoyed growl.

Before Jim could say anything, Jim felt his phone buzz in his back pocket and pulled it out to see that Claire was calling him.

"Oh hey Claire!" He responds as he turned his back to the dragon. "I was just getting the lunches out of the fridge, something wrong?"

"Oh nothing is wrong, I just wanted to let you know I figured out that writing on the cover the book you had yesterday." Claire responds and Jim could hear paper shuffling on the other end of the line. "As I suspected, old Norse! And after googling old Norse letters I managed to translate the title of the book and its author."

"Oh really?" Jim asks as he heard a sniffing sound behind him to find the Night Light very close to him and sniffing his phone. He quickly put a hand between his ear and the dragon's snout before trying to push it away. "Who's it by?"

"The book is called _ How To Train Your Dragon _, and it was written by someone called... Zephyr Haddock?"

"Oh...strange name. And the title makes sense." Jim said as he tried pushing the dragon away as it tried licking his hand attached to the phone. "Hey cut that out!"

"Who are you talking to?"

"Uh…Draal? He's trying to eat some old VHS tapes." 

Jim heard Claire laugh. "Oh? Guess he likes eating plastic and cassette tape."

"Y-yeah, that's probably it." Jim laughs nervously as he quickly hurried into the question. "Uh I'll call you later, gotta do some chores before I head out."

"Alright, and good luck with getting Draal to stop eating your stuff."

Jim let out a sigh of relief as he quickly tucked his phone into his pocket and turns to face the dragon with an upset look. “Okay, I think it’s time for you to head home. It’s still pretty early in the morning, so you have plenty of time to turn camouflage yourself with your fire, or however you turn invisible, to be able to go back home. And I mean it, I can’t have you follow me and my friends to school, you’ll cause a ruckus!”

The Night Light made a face as Jim walked to the door leading to the backyard and opened it, gesturing for it to go. With a pout, the dragon slunk to the door, gently whacking the side of Jim's head with its tail before it slipped out into the yard with the Trollhunter behind him. The Night Light looked around the yard rather nervously before tilting its head back and blasting what looked like a weird indigo blast of fire into the sky. Jim watched as the dragon leapt into the blast and gasped when it disappeared.

"Oh so the fire turns it invisible." He murmured to himself. When he was sure the dragon was probably gone, he headed back inside to collect his things.

_ So someone named Zephyr Haddock wrote this story, but does this mean they knew dragons were real? _ Jim wondered as he collected his and Toby's lunches from the kitchen table and grabbed his bookbag. _ If that is the case, then what are dragons doing all the way out here in Arcadia? Do the trolls know about them? _

⚔️⚔️⚔️

"Dragons? What caused you to be so interested in them?" Blinky asked his student as Jim handed him a large leather book. "What's this?"

"Uh...just something I had lying around my house. It mentions trolls a few times in the books and I wanted to know if these same trolls were like you guys when you lived in the old world." Jim responds as Blinky opened the book and flipped through the pages.

"Ah yes, a lot of these dragons existed many many years ago master Jim, but unfortunately we never really had the best relationship with these creatures."

"How so?"

"Well you see, many dragons of that part of the world have been known to kill and eat trolls. Fighting for territory and hunting grounds and such." Blinky explained as he shut the book and handed it back to Jim. "Aaaarrggh actually had an ancestor who witnessed a time when a huge surge of dragons took over an old dwelling place the Kubera used to live in before being forced to relocate themselves somewhere else. This "Hidden World" the Vikings called it, it used to belong to trolls before dragons scared them out."

"Oh...I didn't know that." Jim admits looking a bit defeated before perking up. "So this means dragons really do exist then! And they can be trained too!"

"Well if goblins, trolls and gnomes exist, dragons do as well." Blinky said with a shrug. "Thankfully, though there are no dragons whatsoever here in the new world. The last time a troll has ever seen a live dragon was when they all just disappeared off the face of the Earth to that Hidden World, never to be seen again. So rest assured master Jim, you won't have to worry about facing a real dragon during your time as a Trollhunter. Unlike poor Unkar the Unfortunate, who was torn apart by one of those creatures."


	5. Return of the Night Light

_ Dragons are definitely not gone, I actually saw one with my own eyes! _ Jim thought as he and Toby and Claire were biking home. _ What if the Hidden World extends so far under the world that there's actually a colony of dragons living in Arcadia? Maybe that's why dragons haven't been seen by trolls in centuries? _

“Okay so what’s your plan to win Spring Fling?” Toby asks, shaking Jim from his thoughts.

“Tobes, I can’t really focus on that right now, especially after what happened earlier today!” Jim exclaims as he glances back at his friend. “Also...I've got a lot of other stuff on my mind than just Spring Fling too."

"Like what?" Claire asks as they pull over to the side of the road to let a car pass. "Something bugging you?"

_ Yeah, a fifteen foot long dragon straight out of that old storybook I liked to read is probably still lurking around my house. Or stranded somewhere out here in Arcadia. _

"Uh...just something Blinky told me." Jim admits. "I asked him about that old storybook of dragons I had that mentioned trolls, and he said that trolls and dragons used to live in the old world, but we're at war with each other. And apparently they went extinct or missing."

"Wait, so that book was telling the truth? There really were dragons?" Toby asked excitedly. "Dude think of how cool it would be if you actually found one! You could ride it into battle and take Gunmar on with it!"

"That's the problem, trolls and dragons never got along. Apparently some dragons used to kill and eat trolls." Jim points out and Toby's grin drops.

"Ooh Boulder class? I mean that makes sense, trolls are made of rock and those dragons eat all kinds of rocks."

"So dragons _ used _ to exist, and even if there were some the trolls wouldn't like being around them?" Claire asks as they climb back onto their bikes to continue biking. "Toby is right, it would be cool if they existed and you could train one like in the books."

_ Oh they probably still exist. _ Jim thought as they peddled towards his house. _ One was sitting in my kitchen earlier this week. _

It had been a few days since Jim last Night Light, and now he was wondering what had become of it. Was it still alive? Did it manage to get back to it's home somewhere under Trollmarket? Or was it stuck up here, wandering the forests and streets of Arcadia trying to find a way back into the hidden city of trolls? So far he hadn't heard Eli talking about finding any weird creatures lately, so that was a plus.

"You know I think you really have a chance to win this year Jimbo, a real good shot too!" Toby said as they parked their bikes outside the Lake house and hurried towards it. "You might even beat Steve too!"

"We'll see, I just don't know if I'm gonna lose all those contests the school holds to eliminate competitors." Jim said as he unlocked the front door of his home. The second he did, he heard a loud noise and felt something heavy slam into him. He heard Claire and Toby scream in alarm as he hit the floor and tried to push off whatever had tackled him.

"Oh my god Jim! It's a dragon!" He heard Claire yell. Jim opened one eye to see a familiar pair of bright blue eyes looking right back down at him and a gummy smile.

"You're still here?!" Jim managed to wheeze as the Night Light climbed off him. "Oh my back hurts now…"

"It's that Night Fury thing! Like from the book but with white spots!" Toby yelled as he and Claire ran forward. The dragon snarled, causing the two to stop in their tracks before Jim quickly sat up.

"No no, they're friendly! No killing!" He yelled as he scrambles to his feet and jumps to stand between his friends and the dragon. "Friends, they're my friends!"

The Night Light's defensive demeanor changed almost immediately to a curious manner as it lowered its head and cautiously approached the teens.

"Claire, please pinch me I think I'm seeing an actual Night Light from that book of Jim's." Toby whispered as the dragon approached them with caution. "This is like the best day of my life- aside from that time that Jim and I met, but this is seriously so cool!"

"Shh, it's okay, come on." Jim whispered as he shifted sideways to walk towards the steps of the house. "Come on, before someone sees you."

Claire and Toby watched as the dragon looked around the area nervously before following Jim into the house and they hurried inside after them.

"This feels so unreal!" Claire said as Jim starts pulling down the shades around the living room windows while the dragon walked to the couch and climbed onto it. "I've just found out trolls and weird monsters exist, and now dragons? This really feels like a dream!"

"It's not, I can promise you that." Jim said as he finished closing all the windows. "And I think it's unanimous that we shouldn't tell Blinky or Vendel about it until it's the right time."

"Yeah, about that. You remember what happened last time a society who didn't like dragons found out someone was hiding and caring for a dragon?" Toby asks as he gestures to the dragon. "Chaos every time! War with Berserkers! A madman with an ice spitting dragon tries to take over their island!"

"We're keeping this one hidden from the trolls for a good reason." Jim points out as he walks over to the dragon as it nudges his arm with its head. "He seems pretty harmless too."

"Him? Dude, it could be a girl for all we know!"

"Well I think he is a boy, he's got…" Jim wracked his brain for an explanation. "I don't know, I just feel like this dragon is male. The book never explained how to tell the difference between male and female Night Lights."

"So do you have a name for _ him _?" Claire asks as she and Toby sit themselves in the other chairs in the living room.

"Uh…"

"Ooh! Shadowcat!" Toby yells and the dragon gives an unamused snort. "Oh come on, it's perfect!"

"Well Shadow would be fitting, he practically followed me like one since the first time we met." Jim chuckles as he reaches up to scratch the dragon on the top of his head, earning a soft purr. "But he's not completely black like a shadow."

"Shadowstar?" Claire suggests. "Because he has spots under his eyes, ears and on his paws that look like tiny stars?"

"Starface?" Toby suggests, earning another unamused snort from the Night Light.

"Flightwing? Deathflyer? Spot?"

"How about Shadow...flight? Shadowflight?" Jim suggests. The Night Light perks up at the name and looks at Jim excitedly, giving him a smile to reveal a mouth full of pink gums. "You like that, Shadowflight?"

"Aw, he really likes it!" Toby laughs as the dragon hops off the couch to nuzzle Jim, nearly backing him into the coffee table. "So we agree we're not telling anyone, right?"

"Absolutely." Claire agrees. "But where is Jim gonna keep him? He can't stay outside during the day, he can't keep him in the house because his mom might see him, and sneaking him back into Trollmarket might be impossible too."

"Perhaps...the basement?" Toby suggests. "Draal's not living there anymore so he doesn't need to protect Jim or his mom since Strickler and his cronies are long gone. Or he could stay at my place...but it's gonna be hard to hide him from Aaaarrggh and he will have a hard time hiding this from Blinky. Plus he might eat some of Nana's cats."

"And he can't stay in my house because my parents for sure will find out about a fifteen foot dragon." Claire adds.

"So he's gonna have to stay in the basement for now." Jim agrees. "I'll wake up early to let him run around the woods for a bit, and when I come home he can come outside again. Draal did say the tunnel he built in the basement led outside so Shadowflight could sneak out to poop whenever he needs to."

"Okay, so we definitely need to keep a record of this." Toby said as he grabbed his backpack and pulled out a notebook. "Updated knowledge on Night Lights, just like the original and first dragon riders once they learned new things about the dragons they currently knew about."

"That's actually a pretty good idea, last I checked the book didn't have an updated list of things about Night Lights." Jim said as Shadowflight decide to seat himself in the foyer near the door. "They are still a new species too, so whatever we learn from Shadowflight can help us if we find another one like him."

Shadowflight seemed content just watching the teens do their homework in the living room as they sat around the coffee table, Claire helping the boys with their math homework until it was time for her to go. He surprised her by standing up a bit when she walked by to get to the door and nudged her hand, to which she took the chance to scratch him between his nubs and purr loudly before collapsing on the floor, still purring.

"Yep, just like a kitty cat." Toby laughs as Claire leaves. "Hey you think he'd like catnip? Closest thing we've got to dragon nip."

"I'm not drugging him." Jim says rolling his eyes at the dragon's antics. "Besides, we gotta find a way to get him back home, he probably has a family down in the caves of Trollmarket."

"Oh... totally forgot about that." Toby admits sheepishly. "So there's no chance of training him so you can fly him in battle and use commands and stuff?"

"Probably not, but for now I guess we can train him in some basic commands, to keep him from attacking random strangers and stuff."

“And probably eating random things.”

Jim shuddered at the thought of Shadowflight eating the amulet again, and this time probably not coughing it back up.

“I sure hope not.” He mutters to himself


	6. From the View of A Dragon

Humans. Never in his life did Shadowflight think he’d ever see a human. To the dragons, they were practically the thing of myths. Tiny two legged creatures with no scales, wings, talons or tails of any kind, with funny colored fur growing on the top of their tiny heads and dressed in weird skins to cover their bodies and squawked funny. It had been centuries since his great great something grandfather had the dragons had any contact with humans, and he was the first of his generation to find one. He remembered his mother, Moondancer, telling him and his siblings stories of times when humans and dragons lived together above ground and in peace. How his ancestor, a Night Fury alpha, befriended a small human male and together they became legends among both their races- at least until they had to separate and live away from each other.

The idea that he was the first dragon since the first brood of Night Lights to see humans, and by the ancient dragons scales these little creatures were strange. His new human, Jim, lived in a strange looking wooden structure with lights that glowed dimmer than the sun, but bright enough to give enough light to lighten the room if it grew dark. There was a strange metal box in what Jim called “the kitchen” that was always cold and filled with strange foods that he was often not allowed to eat. There was a little underground nest Jim had him stay in during the day with a giant hole in the wall that let him come and go from the place without being seen by other humans.

Since his first night in the strange wooden structure, Shadowflight was sure he and Jim were going to get along quite well, much like their ancestors. Sure the poor human screamed and babbled incoherent things he didn’t understand when he did something Jim deemed as “bad” (such as eating weird smelling food he probably wasn’t supposed to eat or tried eating this glowy object it carried everywhere), but other than that they seemed to get along quite well since the night Jim’s residence became his own home.

And he quite liked the other two humans that accompanied his new friend, the ones Jim called Toby and Claire. Toby, the chubby human male with funny things in his mouth, slipped him tasty snacks like these dark brown things and pieces of tasty tasting meat Claire, the small female with the funny streak of blue fur that stood out on her head from the rest of the dark fur, seemed to know the right places to scratch and make Shadowflight melt in a puddle of scales. These two humans, aside from Jim, were officially his favorites. What were the other humans he would hear outside like? Did they like to play fetch with the toys Toby would bring him to play with? Did they like giving good dragons like him tasty food like Jim?

There this one other human that came and went from the place Jim would call “mom”, but she was never allowed to see him, nor was he allowed to be near her. Why, he’ll never know. But Jim would panic every time he’d hear her coming and shove Shadowflight the underground cave and he wouldn’t come back until later with some food and apologies. This “mom” did sound like a nice human, laughing and talking to Jim and making him laugh too.

And this strange name he was given, he actually quite liked it better than the name his mother had given him, it suited him better. All his siblings got beautiful or good sounding names like Orca, Hailsmasher, Startoucher, while he had been stuck with such a boring name like Starfoot (as if his mother ran out of good names for him). At least Shadowflight sounded better, like a real dragon’s name.

Sometimes at night when he was allowed to sleep upstairs with Jim in what was probably his nest, a large pile of nice smelling “blankets” until the sun came up and he had to hide in the underground cave to hide from “mom” until she left. Some nights though, Shadowflight would hear Jim tossing and turning, muttering and sometimes even crying in his sleep. The first night this happened, Shadowflight immediately got up from his nest of blankets and ran to gently nudge the human awake. Poor Jim was sweating and panting hard as if he had been running from a pack of Speed Stingers, before flopping back onto his own bedding and trying to catch his breath.

“It’s just a dumb nightmare, he can’t hurt me or any of us.” Jim would assure the dragon when he would croon in concern. “He’s gone for good.” Whoever this was that Jim was talking about, Shadowflight wished he knew. And whoever this was must have done something bad to the poor human in the past. If he had been with Jim earlier at that time he would have torn apart whoever it was who hurt his human friend.

_ We’re just like Toothless and his human, a human and a dragon keeping their friendship a secret from the other humans. _ Shadowflight thought to himself one night after one of Jim’s “nightmares”, when he pulled the human into his nest of blankets to let him sleep with him.  _ I just hope no one tries to tear us apart, like those bad humans in mother’s stories. I don’t ever want to leave my friend. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry if this chapter was short, I promise the next one will be much longer. School is kicking my ass and I haven't been able to think of anything from the story, I really need to brush up on Trollhunters


	7. Blinky and the Dragon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I absolutely apologize for not updating this in so long, but I'm glad to say that I am going to be back and trying to update this when I can. I kind of lost interest in writing for this story because I was busy trying to update some of my other works, I was working

“This is so strange, my own flesh is so soft!” Blinky said as he was examining his new features in the spoon he had grabbed from Jim’s silverware drawer. “Really, how do you humans handle this?”

“I...I can’t even explain.” Jim says with a shrug as he plucked the spoon from his hand. He still could not believe this was happening to his mentor of all trolls, getting turned into a human and was now walking around in broad daylight and eating the things in his home. Notenrique had been inside the house with Draal when he brought Blinky in, and the changeling was still snickering gleefully and making fun of Blinky’s new appearance.

“AHH! What is that thing?!”

Jim turned to where his trainer was looking and panicked when he saw Shadowflight enter the kitchen with something in his mouth, one of those rope toys with the big brightly colored tennis balls Toby had bought as his chew toy. The dragon looked up to see the two trolls and the new human staring at him and dropped his toy in surprise before jumping back to run back to the basement.

“I’m not the only one who saw a giant black and white reptile, right?” Draal asks. “Pretty sure I’m not drunk on that Dragon Blood I had earlier.”

“Uh...oh how do I explain this.” Jim groans as he hurries to the basement and throws open the door to see Shadowflight huddled in a ball at the top of the stairs. “Hey it’s okay boy, they won’t hurt you. It’s alright, I’m here.”

“Jim, you didn’t answer my question!” He heard Blinky say from the living room.

“Okay but don’t freak out, please! He’s terrified enough already.” Jim said as he carefully shut the door behind him as Blinky, Notenrique and Draal approached him. “That’s Shadowflight, he’s a Night Light I found and that I’m taking care of. And he won’t eat you guys, he actually likes chicken and meatloaf.”

“That...that’s gotta be the weirdest lookin’ dragon I’ve ever seen.” Notenrique comments from atop Draal's shoulder. “Never seen anythin’ like that. You sure it’s a dragon and not some weird salamander mutation you found?”

“No he’s not, and he can hear you.” Jim says with a frown that was followed by a loud growling from behind the basement door. “See? Now be nice to him, or I’ll let Claire feed you to him.”

“Harsh.”

“That’s impossible, dragons haven't been seen above ground in centuries!" Blinky exclaims. "Even when they disappeared into that undersea cavern a lot of trolls believed they went extinct!"

"Well, he's proof that all dragons did  _ not _ go extinct." Jim states as he places himself in front of the basement floor. "And I'm keeping him, so there is no way you are going to get me to get rid of him."

"Dragons and trolls don't get along, how do you think Vendel and the rest of Trollmarket are going to handle seeing you walk around with that thing?" Draal asks with a frown and gestures to the door. "And how do we know it won't try to kill us?"

"My book says his species only eats fish and animal meat, so you're all safe unless you happen to be a fish or meatloaf." Jim retorts and folds his arms over his chest. "And  _ he _ has a name, it's Shadowflight."

"Hmm, you know considering your upcoming battle with Gunmar once we find the other two stones, perhaps your reptile friend could be of some help?" Blinky suggests. "Like us, Gunmar probably also fears dragons and is unaware that they still exist so that could be of some use to us. And anyone who your old changeling teacher tries to send after us will not know what hit them! Oh we better tell Aaarrggh about this! Don't want him panicking at the sight of that dragon."

Jim glances behind him to see Shadowflight peeking out at them through the crack of the door, still slightly terrified of the large stone creatures and the new human behind him. Jim made his way to the door and carefully opened it, causing the dragon to shrink back in fear until he steps into the basement and carefully closes the door behind him, leaving enough to shine some light into the dark basement.

“It’s okay buddy, you don’t need to be around them right now. How about you wait in the backyard for me so we can go on a walk with Claire and Toby later, okay?” He says to the Night Light as he kneels down on the stairs next to him. Shadowflight gave a small warble, perking up at the names of his two other favorite humans before licking Jim’s hand and rushing down the stairs and into the darkness.

⚔️⚔️⚔️

“Who voted for hiking?” Toby groans as the group walked up the hill with Shadowflight running ahead and running back towards them, filled with the energy of an excited puppy. “I thought we were supposed to be doing cool outdoor activities!”

“Walking a dragon isn’t a cool enough outdoor activity?” Jim asks with a laugh as he tosses a ball ahead for Shadowflight to run after.

“You know, never in my years have I ever thought I’d see a dragon, especially one like this.” Blinky says as the Night Light runs back to them and drops the soaked ball at his feet before he picks it up. “Seems quite tamed compared to the ones in the stories adult trolls would tell us whelps to keep us in line. Found this one in the deep tunnels of Trollmarket, did you?”

“Yeah, and he followed me back home.” Jim responds as his mentor tossed the ball ahead and Shadowflight eagerly rushed after it again. “He was just so scared and alone out here, and also too scared to go home. So next thing I know I’ve got myself a pet dragon, he’s kind of like a big fire breathing puppy.”

“That’s one way to put it.” Claire laughs as the dragon runs back to them and hands her the ball. “Oh, looks like someone had a party.”

The ground was now littered with various garbage items like glass bottles and aluminum cans scattered around with some large plastic garbage bags.

“It’s...charming?” Blinky says as he picks up a bottle and gives it a sniff. “Not what I was expecting really.”

“No, she means this.” Jim said as he turned him to face the sky and smiled when his mentor gasped.

“It’s...breathtaking!” Blinky gasps as he steps forward to get a better view of the sunset and would have fallen off the cliff if Jim and Shadowflight hadn’t ran forward to pull him back. “Words cannot describe…”

“Yeah, well imagine if you had six eyes.” The teen said with a smile.

“So your first day as a human is almost to a close, anything else you want to do?” Toby asks as he managed to catch up with them.

“No, just this.’ Blinky says with a soft smile and turns to the other two teens. “If only Aaaarrrggh could be here too. I’m so anxious to tell him about all our adventures- but I’ll have to leave out the encounter with the dragon. Thank you master Jim, today is a day I’ll never forget. But I have to be honest, how many days this will last and this skin...I am still uncomfortable in it.”

“Welcome to being a teenager.” Toby jokes.

“Don’t worry Blinky, maybe I can be the one who helps train you.” Jim suggests.

⚔️⚔️⚔️

Shadowflight still could never understand humans, even after already spending several days with Jim. For one, he always seemed so flustered with Claire at times when the two were alone together. Jim could probably face down a raging Crimson Goregutter without batting an eye, but the moment he barely touched Claire he was as bashful as a Changewing. At the moment the two humans were talking and sitting on one of those funny wooden structures, being awkward and shy as usual. He badly wanted to go over and try to ease them, but Toby and the older human Jim kept calling Blinky held him back and distracted him with the fuzzy red ball they had been throwing around for him to play with on their way up to this new place. They ended up stopping when they saw Claire walk away with Jim holding one of those funny and smelly bottles that had been scattered on the floor. Shadowflight decided to run over to him and gently nudged her side as she was walking to a large metal box that smelled funny.

“This would be a nice place to live, huh?” Claire asks him as she gets close to the metal box. “Plenty of room and space to run around, I think there is a creek nearby with real fish so you can feed from-”

Shadowflight suddenly lifted his wing up to stop her, his ears perked up. He could hear something coming from inside the strange box Claire was walking to and he did not like it. He growled and shuffled back a bit, taking Claire with him. They had to leave, he had to get Jim and the others out of here now before they got hurt. Danger, DANGER! Claire gave a loud scream as something rose out of the box, some sort of large creature made of those weird bottles. The Night Light snarled and roared at the creature as Claire ran back to the other humans, making sure to put himself between them and that weird thing.

Whatever this thing was, it did not seem to be afraid of him. He heard that weird whooshing noise from the shiny thing Jim always carried and heard him tell the other humans to flank the creature. No, bad idea, that was a terrible idea!

“Master JIm! It appears we have another guest!” Blinky shouts and both rider and dragon turn to see another weirdly assembled creature lumbering towards them.

_ Great, two weird things I have to protect them from! _ Shadowflight thought in annoyance before spreading his wings to shield the four humans before Jim rushes to stand in front of him.  _ No! Stupid human! I have to protect you! _

Jim took a swing at the creatures as Shadowflight swung his tail at it, suddenly yelping in alarm as his tail flared with pain. Okay hitting it without an armored tail was not a good idea, he’d have to resort to using his fire and avoid burning everything around them to the ground. He hears Toby yelp in pain as another creature the same as the first two rises from the bushes, now outflanking them.

“Stand back friends, they are no match for the rocky fists of justice!” He hears Blinky shout that was followed by a yelp of pain. “Ow sharp things! That was a sobering reminder!”

_ Okay so anything soft and vulnerable can easily be injured by these things, it should be okay to set them on fire! _ Shadowflight opened his mouth and was about to fire when he heard Toby yell and clamp his mouth shut.

“No no fire no firing! Too dangerous!” The human yelled. “Use rocks! Glass on fire is not good!”

Shadowflight spotted some rocks scattered on the ground nearby and immediately scooped one up with his tail. He remembered doing something like this with his siblings, picking rocks up or chucking them at each other and using their tails to swat at them, and he always had the best aim. He tossed the rock up into the air and whacked it, sending it right into the creature’s chest. He repeated the process with some other rocks as the other humans were throwing their own and Claire was going at one with a stick.

“Master Jim!” Blinky yelled and Shadowlfight saw Jim bolt off into the woods, away from the fight. Should he follow or stay and help the other three humans? With an annoyed growl, the NIght Light took off after his human into the woods.

_ What is he even following? What is out here that’s more important than the weird things attacking us? _ He wonders as he followed the human. He spotted something in the trees, a creature made of stone like the ones who were in the kitchen earlier, but this one looked very different and had an eerie smile on its face.

It had stopped to stand behind a tree as Jim raced forward, and before Shadowflight could even grab him to yank him away, he heard a loud buzzing sound before he felt his legs and body start moving. The dragon panicked as he heard his human making muffled sounds of distress as the weird stone creature moved towards them.

“You wandered into my web, human hunter. And I see you brought a little friend.” The creature said with a malicious smile. “I am Angor Rot, and I will be the last you see before you die.”

Shadowflight struggled to move, but he couldn’t. The weird light surrounding them seemed to have frozen them like they got stung with Speed Stinger venom that prevented them from even moving. The stone creature reached towards the trap slightly and began to draw in the air, talking about something he couldn’t even understand. Whatever it was, it seemed to be scaring Jim, and all he wanted to do now was blast that thing into stone bits if it meant protecting his human. He gave a muffled snarl as it reached into the trap with a large stick and began to chant something unintelligible before he stopped and glared at Jim.

“Next time we meet hunter, daylight will be mine to command, and that beast of yours won’t be able to protect you!” It snarls before a large swirling black hole opened up behind it and stepped into it.

“Jim!” He hears Toby and Claire yell and the sound of them approaching.

He felt something heavy slam into them, knocking them right out of the weird trap and onto the floor. His joints and body felt sore, but at least they were free.

“The golem!” Blinky shouts. Shadowflight turned to see the large creature running towards them and quickly jumps in front of the humans with his wings spread wide to protect them. Jim ran towards the creature and gives a loud yell as he cut the thing down and it shattered to pieces before he stopped to his knees in exhaustion.

"Jim, your face." Toby said softly. Shadowflight noticed the strange markings on the side of his human's face as he tried to wipe them away before trying to lick them off but it didn't work."

"The golems, they were a distraction." Blinky said gesturing to the shattered pieces and a strange piece of stone that was shattered in half.

"What does it mean?" Claire asks as the older human knelt down next to Jim with a serious and worried look.

"The sigil of Angor Rot." He responds and places a hand on Jim's shoulder. "Master Jim, I fear you have been marked for a fate worse than death."

⚔️⚔️⚔️

"There, that should do for now." Jim said as he fitted the last large band-aid onto his dragon's scratched up tail. "That was some impressive rock hitting you did with the tail."

Shadowflight gave a happy warble as he moved his tail away to examine the strange light brown objects covering the cuts on his tail. Jim chuckled as he closed the first-aid kit and turns to the others.

"Anyone else need some patching up before I put this away?"

"Nah,I think we're all good." Toby says, holding his hand up to wiggle his fingers. "So, who is this Angor Rot guy anyways?"

"I'm not even sure." Jim admits before turning to his mentor. "Blinky?"

"Hmm? Oh Angor Rot?" Blinky said looking up from examining Shadowflight, who seemed to be enjoying the attention. "A dangerous troll assassin, has been known to mostly hunt down Trollhunters."

"Okay and why didn't Shadowflight blast that guy before marking Jim?" Claire asks as the Night Light decides to move over to her and place his head on her lap. "I'm sure he could have shattered him to pieces."

"He got stuck in that trap I walked into." Jim admits. "Neither of us could move until Blinky got us out. Are the markings off?"

"Yeah but your cheek is still wet from your dragon's spit." Toby says with a small laugh as his friend touched his cheek to find it still wet. "Oh that's nasty."

"You're not the one who got licked by a dragon!" Jim groans as he gets up to head to the kitchen for a towel. "Shadowflight, give him the same treatment!"

"AAAH no no no no!"

"Curious creature, never thought I'd live to see one of those running around aboveground." Blinky says as Toby scrambles to escape the Night Light. "I honestly thought they all died off, but it seems like I was wrong."

"I think the "monsters" that live down in the tunnels are actually dragons, and the ones attacking the trolls that wander close are just trying to protect their home or got scared and were trying to protect themselves." Jim says as Shadowflight wanders back into the living room, already bored from chasing Toby (who locked himself in the bathroom to avoid the spit treatment), and went back to Claire. "That book mentioned that dragons only get violent if they're hurt, scared, or trying to protect something. So maybe they're actually more afraid of trolls than trolls are of them."

"Well he did seem quite terrified of Draal when he saw us in the kitchen, so it makes sense." Blinky agrees and rubs his chin in thought. "You know, I don't even think Strickler or Angor were expecting him."

"He probably knows about him now, and told Strickler about him." Jim says as his dragon decided to wander over to him and Blinky. "I don't think he's safe here anymore now, you think we can hide him in Trollmarket for some time?"

"Perhaps, if we can sneak him in with Draal's help. You know, I have a feeling we'll have to tell our friend Aaarrggh about your dragon friend if we need to keep him safe from the trolls and Angor, I'm sure he can keep quiet about him as Draal and the changeling can." Blinky says as he holds his bandaged hand out to the dragon for him to sniff. "I think I'll have to probably go looking through my collection of books involving dragons, see if I can find anything on this one. Perhaps one of these days if we can sneak him back into Trollmarket, we can return him to his home in the tunnels."

"I...I don't think I want to do that." Jim said as Shadowflight moved back to him and laid his head on his lap. "That book I showed you about the dragons, bond the human and the dragon had in the story, it feels like what Shadowflight and I have. And I don't want to sever it so quickly like that, I've given him so many chances to leave and go home but he never takes them. I think...I think he was meant to be here and help us."

"Well, he certainly has been helpful today in attempting to defend us against the golems. You know, if you don't mind, perhaps we can take a better look at that old storybook your mother gave you about the dragons and see what other dragons we can find in those old caves that are just as friendly as your little shadow friend here."


	8. Return to the Caverns

The quest to retrieve the Kill Stone ended up becoming a huge failure. While Claire was able to snag the Shadow Staff Angor Rot had been using to follow them and Shadowflight managed to leave a few nasty scratches on the assassin, everyone had been pretty bummed out for the loss of the second stone. Since then things had been spiraling out of control for them, whether or not Angor was involved, like the cursed box that caused gravity to go insane, the pixies that gave weird hallucinations, Jim and Toby causing a huge mess in the library during their search to relieve Strickler of the ring of Angor Rot, and many other misadventures in between that left them on edge.

As of late, Jim had noticed Shadowflight being very on edge, even when they didn't have to be on patrol. The dragon wouldn't stop pacing through the house or backyard and growling at any suspicious thing that moved. He figured ever since they accidentally destroyed the ring and released Angor Rot's soul, and now that the assassin was probably on a warpath, that was probably the reason for the dragon's uneasiness and he couldn't blame him.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Claire asks Jim as they were going down to the canals to enter Trollmarket. "The other trolls might not be as calm or understanding as Blinky or Draal or even Aaarrggh if we bring him into the city."

"They're not going to see him, we'll just hide him in the library for a bit and sneak him into the caverns to let him see his family again, he's been on edge lately." Jim says as they managed to get to the bottom. "Maybe seeing his family for a bit will help him feel better. I don't think the other trolls are ready for him yet."

"You think Vendel should know of this?" Toby asks as Shadowflight walked beside him. "He'll probably find out sooner or later."

"I'm not sure yet,how do you think he'll handle seeing a dragon without panicking too much?"

"Eh, good point."

Once inside the secret entrance, Shadowflight blasted a small stream of fire before he launched himself into it, earning several gasps from Toby and Claire as he disappeared.

"Holy shoot did he just teleport?!" Toby exclaims and Jim chuckles.

"Actually, the heat from his fire causes his scales to do this thing to camouflage his whole body. Not sure how long it lasts or exactly how it works, but that's how he's able to walk around in broad daylight without anyone seeing him." The hunter explains as they start to walk down the stairs and felt something bump into him, followed by a purr. "The dragon book said this was something a Light Fury could do, while Night Furies used the darkness to hide themselves, I'm guessing that the first set of Night Lights were able to have this ability and pass it on to future generations when they took other Light Furies as mates."

"Dude, that's so cool!" Toby gasps. "Man I shouldn't have left my notebook on everything we've discovered about Shadowflight so far, this would have been a new ability to add to the list!"

"His eyes are still visible, he should close them so no one could see them." Claire suggests, gesturing to the bright blue eyes that were floating around. The eyes looked at her before they disappeared, followed by a dragon laugh. "We could guide him, for now."

So far they managed to get Shadowflight through parts of the city that weren't that crowded, taking care to not have his tail accidentally smack anyone or anything surrounding them, at one point having the dragon scale some of the buildings when the streets looked crowded before they arrived at the tunnels.

"Well, here we are." Jim says gesturing to the large tunnels. "Okay Shadowflight, in you go."

The Night Light gave a confused warble as he walked forward, his scales now returning to their normal color as he looked at the tunnels and looked back at Jim in confusion.

"You can go, go back to your family for a bit until you relax." Claire said as Toby pulled a tennis ball out and threw it into the tunnel. Shadowflight gave the humans a confused look before walking in and emerging moments later with the ball in his mouth and dropped it at Toby's feet.

"No no! You're supposed to go into the tunnels, we brought you here so you could reunite with your family because you were so stressed and on edge!" Toby groans as he picks up the slightly drool covered ball.

As if on cue, the teens heard the sounds of faint roars from the tunnels, sounding very much like the ones Shadowflight would make. The Night Light perked up at the sound of the roaring before looking back to Jim, as if asking him for permission to go.

"It's okay, go to them." His human assures him with a smile. "You need this break because you've been on edge all week. We'll come back in a few hours, I promise."

The Night Light ran back to the teen to give him a big lick on the cheek before doing the same to the others, before rushing off into the tunnels. For a while, Shadowflight thought he had entered the wrong one and took several bad turns, unable to catch any familiar scents or find any claw marks. His mother had been the one to mark various tunnels in case he or his siblings got lost playing outside of the caverns they loved in, along with several other dragons helping her by leaving such large scratch marks that would be hard to miss. This actually seemed to drive the trolls off as well, frightening them into staying away. Until he smelled...her.

The dragon's ears perked up at the familiar scent, one that had always been so familiar with him since he hatched. She had been here, along with the others. He could now see the scratch marks on the walls and sniffled one, getting that same scent again and he gave an excited roar before bounding into the darkness. His eyes could make out the various bright rocks and crystals sprouting out of the ground, some looking like the soft colored ones from above in that troll place while the others were these bright neon colored ones that were shaped funny. Shadowflight gave another roar before he stopped in his tracks, looking around frantically before he heard an answering roar and continued his run.

He was almost there, he could smell them all now. He could smell her, he could smell him, he could smell every one of them, all scents he was too familiar with that made his heart race with joy. Was this how Jim felt being reunited with his mother whenever she came home? As he ran, he soon came into a large cavern covered with those beautiful glowing crystals, and sitting in it were several black and white dragons laying around or pacing about the floor while several little ones playfully fought each other. The familiar looking black and white dragons with various markings and patterns on their scales, wings and tail find like him, all with varying eye color.

One of them, a large white one with black splotches scattered over her back and wings like they were stars had caught sight of him and her bright blue eyes widened in surprise before she gave a joyous roar and rushed over to him, followed by several other dragons. They surrounded Shadowflight, sniffing his tail, wings and face before the female who had spotted him drew her wings around him in a hug and pressed her forehead against his. Shadowflight warbled softly as he returned the hug, happy to be with his family again and in his mother's warm embrace. She was okay, as were the others, it was as if he hadn't been gone that long. He was finally home.

🔹🔹🔹

It had already been several hours since the dangerous game they had been playing to keep Aaarrggh from leaving with the Kubera, but in the end he ended up leaving with them to ensure his health. He was really going to miss him, but at least he was going to be okay. And speaking of departing companions...

Jim's mind kept wandering to Shadowflight, the excited face he made hearing those roars in the tunnels before he dashed away to be reunited with his family. After the games they had returned to call him back, but the Night Light never responded to any of the yells, whistles, or even the pieces of cat meat Blinky had brought in hopes of luring him out of the darkness. He was starting to worry that he may have lost his friend for good, just like with Aaarrggh, and he wasn't going to see him again.

_ No, he's fine, he's perfectly fine.  _ Jim told himself as he dragged the trash bags outside to toss them out.  _ He should take his time in relaxing and getting to be with his family again. If he wants to stay for more than a few hours, it's fine he can always sneak out the way he did last time. _

But the thought of Shadowflight never returning gave him an uneasy feeling. He was an essential part of team Trollhunters too, just like the others were and if he never came back...what was he going to do now?

Jim shakes his head before lifting the lid of the trashcan to toss a bag in and looks to Toby's house to see him and... Aaarrggh? He smiled to himself, now glad to see one friend decided to return, even if it meant he'd slowly turn to stone soon. He remembered how much the big Kubera loved playing with Shadowflight, wrestling with him as the dragon would gnaw on his arms and horns playfully like a baby dragon and chase each other through the streets. But now it seemed like they wouldn't be able to do any of those things anymore now that Shadowflight was gone.

As he was preparing to toss away the second bag, Jim heard what sounded like a familiar croon and felt something bump into his side roughly. He stumbled back in surprise and gave a gasp as a familiar pair of bright blue eyes blinked back at him.

"Oh hey you're back!" Jim gasps as Shadowflight became visible, grinning that gummy grin of his and wiggling his ears and tail in excitement. "You had me so worried! Come on, mom's not home so we can pop some popcorn and watch a movie- after I toss out this trash."

The Night Light growls happily and starts to walk towards the entrance of the house when he hears a rustling in the bushes. His pupils go thin as he growls at the source of the noise as Jim whips his amulet out of his pocket, ready to yell the incantation when a familiar looking human rose out.

"Please Trollhunter, you're my only hope!" Strickler says as he walks out of the bushes, falling to his knees in front of Jim. "If you want to save your mother's life, you have to protect me!"

Jim was silent, unsure what to say or do. What was his old teacher so terrified about that he was coming to him for help? He hears a snarl and glances back to see Shadowflight with his mouth open, a bright blue glow in his mouth as he glared at the changeling who was gripping his hand in terror.

"Shadowflight, stand down and get inside." He orders firmly, yanking his hand out of Strickler's grip and glares at him. "You better have a good explanation for why you are here."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay next chapter might take me a while to write because it will be focused on the episodes "Angor Management" and "A Night To Remember", so be ready for a pretty long chapter next time I update and I am very excited to write some of the angst given to us at the end of the first season and in some of the second season, along with the third season


	9. Angor Management

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been like...over two months since I last updated this story, hope you're all holding it well together during these trying times and at least trying to keep yourselves safe and sane

All night the Jim and Shadowflight, along with Draal, had been keeping guard over Strickler to make sure Angor hadn't tried sneaking into the house to kill him and to make sure the changeling didn't escape. Shadowflight spent most of the night prowling around him, snarling and growling, his eyes never leaving Strickler. He'd never seen this human male until now, but he had a smell similar to the trolls and neither Jim nor Draal liked him, so he figured he should keep his guard up around him.

When daylight began to shine through the windows, both human and dragon were still awake. Their changeling guest, not so much. Jim was contemplating on letting Shadowflight be the one to awaken Strickler, maybe regurgitating something from one of his multiple midnight snacks, but decided to wake him with a smelly gym sock instead. Strickler awoke with a gag, earning a laugh from Shadowflight as he sauntered back into the room to stand next to Jim.

“We survived the night with no sight of Angor Rot, congratulations. Thought I’d bring you some breakfast.” The Trollhunter says as he flings the sock at his ex teacher’s face. “Unless you’d like a well chewed portion of some ham sandwiches from my dragon that’s been digesting all night.”

“I don’t eat socks, and I don’t appreciate being tied up like this.” Strickler scoffs. “I asked you to protect me, not torture me or threaten me with...whatever that thing is.”

“He is a Night Light, and I said  _ we’d _ keep you safe, not comfortable.” Jim retorts as he cuts the ropes tying Strickler to the chair.

“Well the sun is up, we have until sundown to get me as far from here as possible.”

“Fine, let me call the team.” Jim walks to the kitchen counter to scoop up his walkie talkie and presses the button. “Trollhunter to Warhammer, copy?”

“Oh goodie, the Puberty Patrol is on the case, I feel so safe.” Strickler mocks as he walks over to Jim before immediately backing away from Shadowflight as he shoves his head between them with a snarl. “How is this even supposed to be a dragon, they’ve been extinct since the Viking ages!”

“This is Warhammer, what’s up Jimbo?” Toby responds from the other end of the line as Stricker quickly reaches around Jim to snach the walkie out of his hand.

“Do you really think your friends will have any chance against that killer?” He asks waving the device. “They’ll be a liability! May I remind you, you destroyed Angor’s soul? He’ll be out for blood, be it yours, your salamander looking pet, or theirs!”

The Fury seemed to take offense to that, sitting up straight and puffing his chest out while glaring at the changeling. Salamander his claw tips, he was certainly no slimy swamp dwelling amphibian!

“Jim, hello?” Toby called again before Jim responded.

“Tobes get everyone together and see what you dig up on that last Triumbric stone.”

“The one the Gum-Gums stole?”

“Yeah, I need you down in Trollmarket. Shadow and I will catch up when we can.”

“Smart choice, for once you are learning.” Strickler comments as he picks up a coffee pot to pour himself something to drink before Jim snatched it from his hands and replaced it with a box of cereal.

“For the record, Angor Rot destroyed his own soul.” He responds in annoyance. “Shadow, go get Draal from downstairs will ya?”

The Night Light gave a warble before lumbering out of the kitchen to the door that led to the basement. With his teeth he grabbed the doorknob carefully to twist it and successfully open the door without nearly destroying it in the process. Draal must have heard him because not five seconds had he managed to open the door, the blue troll was hurrying up the stairs with a weapon in hand.

“And make sure he leaves whatever weapon he is holding downstairs!” Jim yells from the kitchen. “I’d like to keep my mom from wondering why she suddenly got a nasty cut out of nowhere!”

“Stupid binding spell.” The troll mutters in annoyance as he tosses his weapon down the stairs before walking out the door. “You probably wanted to chew that thing to bits, eh?”

Shadowflight responds with an annoyed huff and flattens his ears against the side of his head, earning a laugh from Draal before he feels him gently pat the top of his head.

“Once that spell is gone I’m sure the Trollhunter will let you nibble on the changeling’s scrawny legs to your heart’s content.”

The two walk back to the kitchen to find Jim going through the cabinets while Strickler is busy eating a bowl of cereal.

“Why trust this changeling when all he does is betray you?” Draal asks as he walks into the kitchen.

“Because unfortunately I have to.” Jim responds as he pulls some cans out of the cabinet. “Is this all the canned food we have?”

“You need more? We should chop him into little pieces, have your dragon chew him up and regurgitate whatever he ate and can him right now?” Draal suggests, gesturing to the changeling.

“Did you forget the binding spell?” Jim asks as he stands up. “If we hurt him, we hurt my mom. And no, eating whatever Shadowflight chewed and pukes up is not a sanitary idea either.”

Strickler smirks as he flicks a cereal brain at the troll and dragon, who give frustrated snarls before one slinks away into the living room to sulk and the other follows JIm to the refrigerator.

“Say you do get him out of town, what’s stopping Angor Rot from finding him?” Draal asks as Jim shoves more food into his backpack.

“I don’t know, maybe we could disguise him?” He suggests as he starts to dig through the freezer for more food.

“Angor is a ruthless and cunning assassin, you think he’ll be fooled by a hat and mustache?”

“Then I guess we fight him, far, far away from here.”

“I do not like this plan, he could strike at any time and at any place! He could have the tactical advantage!”

“I don’t know, okay?” Jim says as he slams the fridge door shut angrily. “I don’t have all the answers!”

Sensing his frustration, Shadowflight walks back into the kitchen and walks up to his human, crooning softly and rubbing his head against Jim’s leg until he felt the boy touch the top of his head.

“I’m sorry, I know it’s not a well thought out plan, but we have to leave.” Jim apologized before his phone started ringing and pulled it out of his bag. “Shh, it’s my mom.”

Shadowflight moves to let him pass as Jim starts talking before walking up to Draal. The troll dug around the school bag before pulling out something wrapped in wrapping paper before he removed it and held the food out to the dragon. The Fury eagerly accepts the treat and chews it as quietly as he could to not disturb the human.

"Nice arm, did you get that at the toy store?" Strickler asks Draal mockingly and lightly slaps the metallic arm. Both dragon and troll snarl at the changeling before Jim rushed over to shush them loudly. Shadowflight glares at the changeling before glancing back at Jim to see him looks excited and pleased with whatever his mother had told him before he hung up.

"She'll be out of the house all weekend?" Strickler asks, looking just as happy as Jim.

"Yeah, the house will be empty!" Jim says with a grin before he grabs his bag to start removing the food he had been packing into it. Shadowflight didn't understand why the two were looking excited about the mother of Jim being gone and looks to Draal in confusion, who responds with an equally confused expression.

"Fine, I have rocks for brains, would someone tell me what's so obvious?" He asks as Jim finished dumping the cans out of his bag. "And I'm sure the dragon would like to understand as well."

"We are going to hold down the fort." Jim responds.

"We survived one night, he's not going to survive the next." Strickler adds.

Shadowflight's face lit up in understanding and gives an excited warble as Draal grins.

"Right, we fight here, take back the tactical advantage. An ambush!" The troll says excitedly. "And with the Shadowflight we could be at huge advantage as well! Yes, I like it!"

"But, we're going to need supplies." Jim points out and Draal grins.

"Oh, I think I know what we'll need."

🔹🔹🔹

Night had already fallen as the three were putting the finishing touches to the numerous traps set around the house, Shadowflight occasionally helping them by handing them rope or a random weapon he thought would be useful and staying out of the way to avoid accidentally setting off any of the traps. He had seen what some of them did when Draal or Strickler tested them out to made sure they worked, and couldn't help but grin to himself at the thought of that strange looking troll who had been giving his human and their friends problems since they saw him at the park getting wrecked by all the traps and finally being freed of him. At the moment he was sitting on the stairs behind Draal as Strickler and Jim were setting up the final trap that would drop an axe that was attached to a part of the wall, listening to the two talk.

Draal had just gotten off the stairs and he was about to get up and follow when he noticed something on the stairs. It was some sort of smooth black ball, almost like one Jim had in his room that sat on a shelf, but this one was moving.

"What is that?" The troll asks, pointing at the ball. Shadowflight contemplated on smacking it, until Strickler started yelling. 

"It's his eye!" The older man shouted frantically.

"Gunmar's eye?" Jim asked, confused.

"No Angie's! He's been watching us, get it!"

Both Draal and Shadowflight immediately went for the eye, only for it to immediately roll to the floor and roll towards the kitchen. The four immediately ran for it, Shadowflight batting and pouncing for it before it bolts for the sink until Jim managed to catch it in a cup.

"How long has he been watching us?" The Trollhunter asks as he quickly covered the cup with a plate to keep it from escaping. There's a noise at the door, alerting them someone was at the house. "He's here, get in position!"

Draal runs for the basement with Shadowflight behind him, both rushing in before closing the door behind them. The Night Light crouches on the stairs, ready for the signal to come out and attack, when he hears an all too familiar voice he had only heard from when he'd hide in the basement. Was that Jim's mother? Moments later he hears what sounded like something breaking before Draal throws open the door and rushes out of the basement. Shadowflight rushes after him, trying to tackle him before he accidentally kills the human.

"No no Draal get back!" Jim yells, jumping in front of his mother as he managed to stop the stampeding troll before Shadowflight runs right into him, earning a terrified scream from Barbara.

"Oh...umm hello." The troll apologized as the dazed dragon stumbles back with a groan. "Oh...sorry."

Shadowflight hears the human woman give a terrified scream as he looks around Draal to see her spray something right at him and Jim in their eyes and immediately ducks to avoid getting sprayed. Draal have a loud scream and stumbled back, accidentally trampling the dragon's tail and earning a pained yelp from him before he bolts into the living room to hide behind one of the lifted sofa and trying to ignore the pain from his poor tail. More screaming, something heavy falling over before he hears Strickler talking, another scream from the human woman before a loud thud followed. Shadowflight peeks out from behind the sofa to see her on the floor and warbles in distress before slinking over to the three humans.

"And so is she." Strickler says as Shadowflight reaches them. "Right then, better put a sofa back to lay her down on it. You might need to come up with an explanation for why there's a troll and dragon in your house young Atlas."

"Yeah, explain why I'm hiding a ten foot long reptile and eight foot tall troll in my basement, great idea." Jim mutters as he bends down to pick his mother up from under her arms. Shadowflight gives a small whine and showed him his tail, pointing to the spot Draal had stepped on. "Hang on buddy I'll get some ice for that, just got to lay her down first. Help me out?"

Shadowflight was more than willing to let the two humans place the unconscious one on his back and carry her to the living room before they carefully placed her on a sofa. After Jim wraps his tail in some sort of cold thing that seemed to soothe the pain a bit, he was instructed to stay in the kitchen and rest, which he was more than willing to do. A few minutes had passed when he heard Jim's mother awaken, but stayed where he was for fear of her screaming and fainting again. He could hear the three humans talking before it became just Jim and his mother, the conversation evolving into Jim trying to explain about his Trollhunter duties.

"Can't you ask someone else to do it?" He heard Barbara ask as he decided to move closer to the hallway to listen better.

"I'm afraid it's a permanent position?" Jim states. "They need me mom. I know it's hard to believe, I'm sort of like their protector."

"But who's going to protect you?"

Shadowflight poked his head out of the kitchen and gave a small croon, earning a startled gasp from the human.

"Oh hey, feeling better?" Jim asks, turning to him with a smile. Shadowflight responds with another croon, unsure if he should leave the kitchen. Jim's mother was looking at him in terror, and the last thing he wanted was for her to faint again like earlier.

"Jim what is that?" She asks as his human motions him to come forward. "Wait, why...why does he look like that dragon from that book you loved reading as a kid?"

"Oh, that's Shadowflight. He... he's a friend. Think of him as the one trying to keep me safe." Jim responds as the dragon slinks over to them, watching Barbara with curious eyes. "And don't worry, he has heard your voice enough times to associate you as friendly and not the enemy."

"Wait that has been in the house all this time? Since when?!"

"Uh...since...after the school play?"

"I'm afraid we'll have to cut the explanation of the dragon short, it's not safe to be here." Strickler interrupts before turning to Barbara. "Barbara, you do have to leave. It's-"

Shadowflight hears the metal cans they had strung from the ceiling clatter and turns to look at them, a growl rising from his throat. The cans and the ropes holding them suddenly burst, sending the three humans to duck to the floor as the dragon immediately covers them from the small blast with his wings.

"The basement!" Jim gasps in realization.

"What's in the basement?" Barbara asks nervously.

"Draal and Shadowflight were supposed to guard it." Strickler responds as the door to the basement slowly swings open. Shadowflight snarls as a glowing black ball rolls out from it and an eerily familiar voice starts to chant something before the whole room went black.

Jim was already on his feet and stumbling for a flashlight as Shadowflight let his eyes adjust to the darkness, keeping his wings slightly outstretched to cover the other two humans. He could hear something running around the room and breaking things, but it was too fast.

_ Okay stay calm, you know you can't use your fire now without destroying a wall or hitting one of the humans. _ The dragon told himself as he heard Jim mutter something before his armor was on.

"Stick to the plan, you know what to do!" Strickler instructs as Shadowflight backs towards the hiding place. He noticed movement coming from the ceiling and caught sight of a familiar creepy troll scuttling along the wall like a spider. He growls loudly to alert Jim before the troll leaps out of sight. The two await before something flies at Jim, but he manages to block the attack with his sword before the troll comes crashing down and pounces. Shadowflight snarls as he blocks Barbara and Strickler with his body as Jim and Angor fought.

"You did not run brave hunter, but the brave are the first to die." The troll assassin sneers.

"Go, go! Get her out of here!" Jim yells. "Shadowflight keep them safe!"

The Night Light nods before taking up the rear as the two humans run for the basement, glancing behind him to make sure the troll didn't try to follow them.

"Come on, this leads to the sewers!" Strickler yells as they hurried down the stairs of the basement and points to the hole in the wall.

"No I'm not leaving without my son!" Barbara argues as Shadowflight tried nudging her towards the hole. "Wasn't this dragon supposed to stay with him?"

"If Jim ordered him to stay with us, it was definitely to keep  _ you _ safe from Angor!"

Shadowflight could still hear the fighting from upstairs, along with the angry roars of the troll. He flinched at the loud crashes, badly wishing he could rush up and defend his friend, but he couldn't disobey this order to protect the two humans.

"What about my son? He needs help, what's going to happen to him if that dragon isn't up there to protect him?" Barbara asks frantically, looking up at the ceiling where they could hear the fighting.

"No you have to go!" Strickler says, grabbing her arm but she yanks it away.

"No, he needs my help!"

With a frustrated snarl, Shadowflight bolts for the stairs. To hell with obedience, disobeying Jim's orders to keep him safe was more important. His mother will be safer with the troll smelling human. He bursts through the door to find Angor and Jim still at it, the assassin now holding the hunter's sword and swinging it at him. Shadowflight gives a loud roar and pounces on the troll, digging his talons and teeth into his stone skin and earning a frustrated roar from him. He could hear Jim scream something at him, before a sharp pain suddenly flares up on his left side.

The dragon gave a pained cry as he released the troll, falling to the floor with a groan. His vision was blurry and his side was really hurting now. He hears Jim scream in anger and could have sworn he saw another troll that smelled like Strickler rushing into the fight before the three disappeared up the stairs.

_ Come on you dumb lizard, get up! Get up, they need you! Jim needs your help! _ The pain was almost too much as Shadowflight tried to stand, but he knew he had to at least make it up the stairs.  _ Got to get that thing into that trap we had fallen into the first time. _

He could hear more noise coming from up the stairs as he dragged his body up the stairs, trying so hard to ignore the pain until he reached the top and collapsed. His head was swimming from the pain and could barely even stand. He could hear muffled yelling before he collapsed on the floor with his vision slowly dimming.

_ No, no not now, not now...Jim needs... _


	10. A Night To Remember

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey we're almost done with the season 1 chapters!!
> 
> Also, big thank you to @aetherstorm_ on Instagram for drawing my beautiful boy!! He absolutely looks adorable in this style!  
https://www.instagram.com/p/CB1xCN7lDIt/?igshid=1xc2sn32nz7po

Jim could hardly believe everything was falling apart the second they found Angor’s eye on the stairwell watching them. He actually nearly killed his mother when she tried walking through the door (at least she managed to take his explanation about being a Trollhunter and having a dragon live with them well enough without fainting, Angor managed to get past their defences and traps, then Shadowflight gets stabbed during the fight, followed by his mother accidentally freeing the assassin after they trapped him, cuts Strickler with some kind of poisoned blade that injures his mother as well, and then the car chase with Angor following them and nearly getting into Trollmarket. He still wasn’t sure how Draal managed to tie Shadowflight to the roof of Strickler’s car, but he was at least glad the troll had the sense to try and stop the bleeding before tying him to the roof and running back inside to help.

Right now he was pacing outside of the infirmary of Trollmarket, worried for his mother and his dragon when Vendel walked out, followed by Strickler with a sling and a very tired Shadowflight with a large bandage on the left side of his stomach and limping slightly. The dragon’s face lit up when he saw Jim and limped over to him to press his head against his chest.

“Vendel, how’s my mom?” Jim asks the elder troll as he hugged his dragon’s head tightly.

“She is resting, for now, but we must move her to the Heartstone.” Vendel responds.

“Blinky says that we need to break the binding spell.”

“I agree with his assessment. She cannot properly heal while still bound to the changeling. Unfortunately this is Gum-Gum magic, and I don’t know the proper incantation.”

“No, but he does.” Jim points to Strickler as Aaarrggh and Toby surround him.

“Well are you waiting for an invitation or do I have to beat it out of ya?” Toby snaps as both Aaarrggh and Shadowflight snarl at Strickler.

“I don’t have it with me!” The changeling admits nervously. “It’s in the Book of Gahoil, in my office.”

“We have to go get it.” Jim says with a nod.

“We’ll have to be careful, that crazy psychopath will be there.” Toby agrees.

“Ugh I forgot about Angor Rot!”

“No Coach Laurence! It’s the Spring Fling dance and he will be roaming the halls.”

It hadn’t even occurred to Jim that the dance was tonight. All week he had been so worried about avoiding Angor that the dance had completely slipped his mind.

“Your mom’s life is more important than a stupid dance.” Claire assures him as she turns him to face her.

“I know, but I was looking forward to  _ our  _ stupid dance.” Jim says and Claire gives him a sad smile.

“I know. Toby and I will get the incantation, you need to be here for your mom.”

“You must go now, make haste!” Vendel urged them.

“We got this, lets go Toby!” Claire whipped out her staff and created a portal, allowing her and Toby to leap through and vanish into it.

“What about the changeling?” Aaarrggh asked, nodding at a nervous Strickler.

"Take him to the stronghold." The elder orders. As the two older trolls walk off with Strickler, Vendel turns to Jim with an annoyed look and gestured to Shadowflight. "I suppose an explanation about this creature is due."

"Uh...he's a dragon?" Jim says as the Night Light studies the large troll in curiosity. "I swear there is a good explanation to why I have him and where he came from."

"Well, let's hear it." Vendel says, folding his arms over his chest.

Jim explained everything, from how he came across Shadowflight the first time to how the dragon had become so protective of him and his friends, and how there were possibly more than just Night Lights living deep past the tunnels of Trollmarket.

"How peculiar, I actually thought dragons had been extinct for centuries and I've never seen one like this before in any books." Vendel states as he kneels down to extend a hand out to the dragon. "And yet here he is, alive and very not extinct. The fact that you actually managed to tame one too, you really are full of surprises young Trollhunter."

"This old book of mine says the dragons actually went deep underground to a place called the Hidden World, and Blinky mentioned that the Krubera used to live there before the dragons took over the place." Jim explains as Shadowflight steps close to sniff the hand cautiously.

"Well, trolls and dragons never really did have the best relationships. I'm sure your mentor mentioned our history with these said creatures."

"Well Shadowflight so far has actually gotten along fairly well with the trolls he has met, except for Angor Rot. I think he won't have any problem warming up to the rest of Trollmarket as long as they don't try to hurt him or try hurting me. He's pretty protective of me."

Shadowflight stepped around the elder troll to give him a quick sniff before gently nudging him affectionately and giving him a gummy smile.

"And that's his way of showing he likes you, especially when he does his best nonthreatening smile."

"Well I feel very unthreatened." Vendel chuckles before becoming serious and standing up. "Though I believe some trolls might not be as accepting of him roaming this place or comfortable being around him despite his friendly nature like your mentors. If anything, I think it'd be best to play it safe and keep him away for a while or at least make sure he doesn't do anything to scare the trolls."

"I'll try to keep him in line as best as I can." Jim assures him before turning to his dragon. "You hear that bud? I'm keeping you in check every time I bring you here."

This really didn't seem to phase the dragon, just got him to give him a confused look before perking up and rushing forward to an approaching Blinky.

"The changeling is locked away and secured, and lucky for us he's injured so I don't think he'll be trying anything funny." The six eye troll announced as he approached the two and gave Shadowflight a smile. "And it seems like someone is doing quite fine for getting stabbed and strapped to the roof of a car."

"You should go check on your mother, at least to pass the time while your friends retrieve the information from that book we need." Vendel suggests as he gestures in the direction of the Heartstone. "Your little scales friend can stay with me for a while and guard the Changeling with Aaarrggh while we wait."

🔹🔹🔹

"What do you mean you won't undo the binding spell, I trusted you!" Jim yelled as he unsheathed his sword to point it at his old teacher's face. "I thought you cared about my mother!"

After all he had done so far for this man, going as far as helping him attempt to take out Angor Rot so he wouldn't harm his mother, he was now just backing out like this?

"I do, much to my surprise, and quite deeply." The changeling admits. "In fact, I might even love-"

"Do not finish that sentence!" Jim snaps, silencing the older man as his dragon slinks around them, glaring at Strickler. "If you really cared about my mother, you would undo the binding spell."

"And then what? You see my predicament, young Atlas. I have my own interests to consider here."

"What interests?"

"The spell has been the only thing keeping you from harming me for one." Strickler points out as Jim gives a frustrated sigh.

"I won't harm you, I promise." The teen assures him and the older man frowns as one of the trolls in the room snorts in annoyance.

"And what if your troll friends, or your dragon? They have no love for me, as my present confinement demonstrates." The changeling points out as he gets to his feet. "What's to stop you from throwing me to the wolves the second my connection to my mother is severed?"

"It's called honor, I don't expect you to understand it."

"Touche, but you can understand my reluctance."

"Once my mother's okay, you can leave, no strings attached." Jim assures him. "I won't let anybody hurt you, you have my word."

Strickler frowns but lifts his hand up to hold it out to Him, jerking it away when Shadowflight snarls in warning before Jim reaches out to grab it. The older man suddenly gasps in pain and fell to his knees, his hand going to the large gash on the side of his neck. Jim immediately touched the amulet to make his armor disappear before helping his teacher up.

"You've given me much to consider, young Atlas." The changeling states as Vendel walks in.

"So, has he changed his mind?" The elder troll asks and Jim nods in response. "Good. Head back to your mother, we'll be there shortly."

Jim nods before motioning for his dragon to follow him. Along the way back to the Heartstone, he noticed a lot of trolls looking at them warily. Shadowflight pressed himself close to his rider, his ears laid flat against his head as he glanced at the unfamiliar trolls nervously.

"It's okay, they won't even touch you while you're with me." Jim assures him softly. "Just stay close to me."

They managed to make it to the Heartstone with no problems, aside from the occasional gnome that kept jumping into Shadowflight and startling the poor dragon, but other than that they were fine. Barbara was asleep on the examination table when they arrived, thankfully. Shadowflight gave a small croon as he approached the table and laid his head near her hand and perked up when his rider's mother stirred.

"You know, I'm pretty sure this one is the reason why we're missing leftovers in the house." Barbara said with a weak laugh as she lifted her hand to touch the dragon's snout.

"Well we don't have to worry about moldy food hiding in there thanks to him." Jim chuckles as he takes his mother's hand. "You really don't mind me keeping a dragon in the house?"

"As long as you can clean up his messes." Barbara says softly and gave Shadowflight a smile. "Nice to see someone else has the right idea of wanting to keep you safe."

The dragon warbles happily as Strickler, Blinky and Vendel enter the room. Shadowflight gently slides Barbara's hand off his snout and moves to the other side of the table with Jim, keeping his eyes on the injured changeling.

"Any word from Toby and Claire yet?" Jim asks the elder troll as Strickler takes Barbara's free hand.

"Not yet, but let's hope they come soon and with the incantation." Blinky says with a shake of his head. "In the meantime, all we can do is hope they'll come soon and-" He was cut off as a large swirling hole of darkness opened up over Barbara and something dark flew right out of it, impaling itself into the wall. Wasn't that Claire's staff? "The incantation!"

"But where are Toby and Claire?" Jim asks as the hole disappeared and his mentor removes the staff and the piece of paper attached to it from the wall and hands it to Vendel.

"We must prepare the conjuration at once!" Vendel states as he takes the paper and began to read it. "Oh...it seems there is another problem."

"What do you mean there's another problem?!" Jim exclaims as his mother gives a cry of pain.

"I'll go get what we need, no time to lose!" Blinky says before hurrying off.

"Okay what exactly is the problem now?" Jim asks Vendel impatiently.

"The incantation as you know makes Barbara experience whatever trauma befalls Strickler, unfortunately breaking the binding spell will also erase her memory." The elder troll explains.

"What are you saying, I'm going to forget Trollmarket? I'm going to forget Jim's the Trollhunter and he has a dragon?" Barbara asks, looking to her son.

"I'll leave you both with a moment of privacy." Vendel says as he walks away from the table with Strickler. "Then we should enact the conjuration. Come dragon, you can return to his side when they're done."

"Actually - can he stay?" Jim asks quickly as Shadowflight starts to walk away from the table. "Please?"

"If he wishes to."

Shadowflight looks to the retreating backs of the troll and changeling before looking back to his friend and mother, deciding to walk back to the two humans. If Jim needed him to stay for emotional support, then he'll stay to give him that support.

"Guess we're going to have this conversation again." Jim says as he takes his mother's hand. "Hopefully you don't faint at the sight of Shadowflight...again."

"Jim, listen to me. Promise me we will." Barbara says as she gives her son's hand a squeeze. "It took all of this for you to tell me, about...your other life."

"I just didn't want to worry you. And I know I have."

"Yes, yes you have. I am worried, I'm scared, but listen to me. It is my job to worry, and it's not your job to protect me." Barbara says as she gripped her son's hand and looked up at him. "I want you to know something. Even before you found this amulet, way before all of this, you were always my hero. My beautiful boy."

Jim smiles as he leans down to hug his mother as gently as he could. "I love you." He says softly before he hears the doors open and glances up to see Vendel and Strickler returning with a stone in hand.

"The time has come, place your hand upon the gemstone." Vendel instructs.

"Barbara, I- " Strickler says before she interrupts him.

"Don't talk to me, you are the one thing I'm looking forward to forgetting." She says as she placed a hand on the stone and looks over to Shadowflight. "Take care of my son, please. Keep him safe for me...can you do that?"

The Nightlight croons softly and nudges her free hand before he steps away from the table to stand next to Jim. Vendel begins to softly chant the incantation as the gem in his hands behind to pulse with light. The two watched as Barbara and Strickler began screaming in pain as the spell was slowly being removed, Shadowflight cringing at the loud screams as Jim reached forward to clutch his mother's hand. After a few moments, Vendel stops chanting and the stone stopped glowing. Strickler dropped to the floor with a groan as Barbara goes quiet, already passing out from the pain.

"It is done. Escort the changeling back to the stronghold." Vendel says as he placed the stone on the table. "They shouldn't be able to feel each other's pain now."

"I'll take my mom back to the hospital. Bud, can you take him to where we retrieved him from?" Jim says turning to his dragon. Shadowflight nods with a small huff before walking around the table to Strickler and nudged him to stand up. "I swear when I return I'll get you out of here."

"He'll need some rest first before you let him go anywhere." Vendel states as Strickler slowly gets to his feet. "I'll go with your dragon, you take care of your mother before she awakens."

Shadowflight follows Vendel out of the Heartstone, keeping close to the changeling as multiple trolls watch. He tried not to cower at the sight of so many strange trolls, not wanting to come off as scared and attack the strange troll smelling human he was supposed to protect for now. If he looked weak in their eyes for even just a moment, they'd probably would rip this creature limb from limb the way he would with the whole chickens Toby would sometimes sneak him. He was glad that Blinky and Aaarrggh had joined in the drop off, the bigger troll growling at the other trolls as the four of them encircled Strickler.

"Will his mother be alright?" Blinky had asked as they entered the stronghold. "I'm not sure what the side effect of that spell was, but it sounded quite grave."

"She'll forget everything that happened in the past two hours, nothing more, thank Deya. But I'm sure the Trollhunter will have to eventually tell her everything she just found out." Vendel responds as Aaarrggh lowers down a cage and opens the door. "Either that, or he'll have to continue to hide his second life from his mother again and tell her eventually if she stumbles upon something related to Trollhunting."

"Well, best hope he tells her sooner or later. Last thing we want is her getting hurt after learning about it all, and fainting again from the overwhelming information." Blinky says with a nod as he nudges Strickler into the cage before shutting the door behind him and locking it. "Alright, that should do it. We'll keep you in here until master Jim returns. In the meantime Changeling, get some rest. Come Shadowflight, I know you'll get bored so you can accompany me and Aaarrggh to my library, just don't eat any of my books."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prepare yourselves for the next chapter focused on the final episode of season 1!


	11. Something Rotten This Way Comes

The peace that had followed after they shut Strickler away did not last long, unfortunately. Not even ten minutes after Shadowflight had started to try and nap in the library, there was a loud commotion outside.

"Good gracious, what's even going on out there?" Blinky asked Aaarrggh as he shut his book. The larger troll shrugged and looked to Shadowflight, who gave a shrug and a confused warble.

The three poked their heads out to see a crowd of trolls storming past them with Strickler, all shouting as the changeling was shouting for help.

"Entrance!" Aaarrggh yelled, pointing to where the trolls seemed to be marching. Shadowflight nods before bolting after the trolls, taking care to turn himself invisible and taking a quicker route through the rooftops. As the trolls were approaching the stairs, the Nightlight lands right in front of them, allowing himself to be seen and roars at the crowd of trolls.

"Move you big salamander!" One troll that was holding Strickler by his feet yelled. Shadowflight responds with a growl and blasts a small bit of fire at the trolls feet to send him back into the crowd. More trolls tried stepping forward but the dragon blasted at their feet again and again to keep them back until Blinky and Aaarrggh arrived to keep the crowd back.

"What in Deya's name is the matter with you all?!" Blinky shouts at the crowd. "Have you all lost your minds?"

"Get out of our way Aaarrggh!" One troll yelled but the Krubera held his ground.

"No!" He snarled and stood firmly between Blinky and Shadowflight.

"Let us discuss this matter like reasonable trolls!" Blinky states, stepping forward. A small rock flew out from the crowd and smacked him right in the head. "Ruffians! Who threw that?!"

"Where's Jim? He gave me his word!" Strickler asks frantically.

"Put him down! Helped save my mother!" They heard Jim yell before he, Toby and Claire emerged from the crowd to stand at the entrance. "He's...with me!"

"He tried to release Gunmar!" One troll shouts.

"Get him out of here!" Another yells.

"Changelings ain't right in Trollmarket!" Another adds and the other trolls shout in agreement.

"It's not going to make a difference!" Jim argues. "Angor Rot wants me too, and the protective barrier won't stop him!"

"What do you mean?" Blinky asks him in worry.

"He has...a horngazzle." Jim admits and all the trolls start screaming and throwing garbage in his direction. "You have the right to know!" He yells back at the angry crowd.

"Let's throw them both out!" A troll yells as the crowd cheers. "And the lizard too!"

Someone walked back and grabbed Jim by his feet. Shadowflight snarled that turned into a yelp of surprise when he felt someone grab him by the tail and start dragging him painfully up the stairs as well.

"When you finish throwing them out, come back and throw me out too!" They all stop to see Vendel step into the hood of the car to overlook the crowd. "Yes the boy has made grave errors, but he's come through for us more times than I give him credit for. Trollmarket is in danger, and our greatest defense has always been our Trollhunter. He's earned my trust, he should earn yours."

"You can throw me out too!" Blinky adds as he climbs onto the hood of the car.

"And me!" Aaarrggh adds as he stands beside them.

"Us too!" Toby adds before quickly adding, "Technically we don't live here, just saying."

"Same for me, I've always stood with our Trollhunter!" A troll from earlier states as she pays Jim on the chin.

Shadowflight watches as the trolls mutter among themselves before the three holding him, Strickler and Jim release them none too gently onto the stairs.

"What now, our unfathomable leader?" Strickler asks as they get to their feet. Jim motions for his dragon to follow as he climbs up a few steps before turning to face the crowd of trolls.

"Now we get ready to give Angor Rot the fight of his life!" He yells, shoving his fist into the air, earning a loud cheer from the crowd.

The humans, trolls and dragon set about setting up the underground city for a fight. Everyone was setting up walls to block off certain areas made of various things like old TVs, barrels, crates, and other bits of junk. Shadowflight was more than happy to help, flying through the city with a net to collect various bits of junk the trolls wanted to use, earning himself a few pats on the head and some chin scratches from the ones who didn't seem too scared of him. As he was finished dropping off a net full of crates to get set up near the entrance, he decided to stop by the library. Inside, he find the three humans surrounding a table with the odd little green troll he recalled only meeting once and a tiny creature with a red cap on its head. It gave a startled squeal before sputtering some weird sounding chittering noises and running around the table in panic before hiding itself behind the little green troll.

"Why's Chomsky so terrified of Shadowflight?" Toby asks as the said dragon squeezes his head between him and Jim.

"Maybe dragons eat gnomes?" Claire suggests with a shrug. "Then again he is kind of scary at first glance."

_ As if I'd eat that tiny thing, it's not even big enough to feed a baby dragon and it has sharp teeth. _ Shadowflight thought in disgust as the little creature Claire a gnome barred it's teeth at him before blowing a raspberry.

"Let's just ignore the fact that Gunmar has a full list of who he's planning on killing." Toby says dismissively.

"It's like you said, we shouldn't be focused on the fight tomorrow, but the fight today." Claire says. 

"It's just too bad we're gonna be wasting our time collecting stones to kill Gunmar and not Angor Rot." Toby adds. "I mean we have a dragon on our side, but he's injured and definitely not in good shape to be fighting."

Shadowflight huffs in annoyance. This wound was nothing compared to the injuries he'd seen on other dragons like his father, the only dragon of their species he'd seen with the most scars on his body that made him look fierce and feral. If anything, this was probably the first of the many battle scars he'd gain in his life, even if it wasn't from a dragon.

"Or so you think." The four turn to see Strickler walk in with a book in hand. "Maybe you do have a stone, Angor's eye."

Jim turns to pick up a glass jar with the weird black ball Shadowflight remembered finding on the stairs of the house. "You're saying I can use this in my amulet?"

"If cut with the proper guidance." Strickler responds.

"Show me where to cut."

🔹🔹🔹

Shadowflight watches his human as he and the changeling were busy cutting away at the eye with a strange rolling stone, curious to see what would happen. He didn't get what was so important about that eye, but apparently it was going to help Jim against the troll that had been giving them trouble since that day in the woods. Whatever it was supposed to do, he hoped it was enough to help.

After a while, the eye was now reduced to a tiny glowing red stone that Jim placed into his amulet, causing it to elevate off his hand and glow brightly before dropping.

"So what's this supposed to do?" Jim asks as he places the amulet back into his pocket.

"You'll see." Strickler responds with a smile. "Now, I suppose that's all I can do for now, unless there's anything else you would like for me to do."

"I think that's enough, for now. Let's get you somewhere far from here where Angor won't find you."

The three soon we're walking through the city, Shadowflight glaring at the trolls who kept throwing angry looks at Strickler but kept their distance.

"Are you sure there isn't anything more I can do?" The older man asks as they approached a large metal contraption Shadowflight had recalled getting into once, which brought him some unpleasant memories of the motion sickness he felt after the first and last time.

"The other trolls don't trust fighting alongside you, and honestly, neither do I." Jim admits.

"You've kept your word, after everything I've done. Once again, you've proved why you are...the hero. And I am…"

"Someone who could change."

"Your idealism is nearly contagious." Strickler says with a roll of his eyes. "My gratitude cannot be enough."

He extends his hand to them to reveal a glowing blue stone in his hand.

"Gee, a friendship rock?" Jim asks skeptically as Shadowflight sniffs it. It smelled old and dusty, which meant it probably didn't taste good so he probably shouldn't try eating it.

"After you are done with Angor's eye, I thought you could use Gunmar's." Strickler states, ignoring the remark. "You need the last Triumbric stone to defeat Gunmar, I've held onto it for centuries. I kept it close in case you drove a hard bargain to protect me."

Ah, another troll eye. Definitely not something he'd want to eat. Shadowflight sat back as he watched the two talk for a bit before Strickler climbed into the metal contraption.

"You may not believe me young Atlas, but I do wish you luck, and hope we do meet again." The older man says before looking to Shadowflight. "Try not to let him get into too much trouble. Keep him safe."

_ First Jim's mother, now that troll smelling human, guess everyone really likes telling me to keep my human friend safe before they go somewhere.  _ Shadowflight thought as the metal thing speeds off.  _ Like I really need reminding. _

"Come on bud, let's get back to helping everyone get ready for the battle." Jim says as he tucks the glowing eye stone into his jacket pocket. "It's almost time."

🔹🔹🔹

The second they heard the loud pounding coming from the stairs, Shadowflight was already feeling sick to his stomach from nervousness. Trolls were running around screaming as they ran for cover back towards the city. The pounding above was shaking the room, sending small bits of rock falling down near them.

"Is he knocking? Is that some sort of troll war etiquette?!" Toby asks nervously as the pounding continued.

"I believe he's attempting to intimidate us!" Blinky responds as he plugs his ears.

"He's expecting us to hide, I say we take the fight to him!" Jim says before turning to the group. "Draal, Shadowflight hold the stairs; Blink, Claire, Tobes, protect Trollmarket; Aaarrggh, Notenrique, come with me."

"Umm...I'm rather comfy where I am." Notenrique says. Shadowflight looks to Draal, who nods, before the dragon turns and swats the little troll up the stairs. "Ya brute!"

"This should be fun, just the two of us guarding the stairs to protect the main city." Draal says as he hefts his axe. "Kind of like what we did at the house."

Shadowflight cringes at that, recalling how poorly it ended for them the last time they tried defending anything together. That ended up with Draal getting sprayed in the face with something that burned and knocked out, while he got his tail stepped on and got stabbed later.

"Right, my bad. Bad example." The troll mutters. "Know what, I'll just keep my mouth shut."

They hear a loud roar from upstairs that was followed by something breaking, and then silence. Shadowflight looks up the stairs anxiously expecting the creepy troll to be running down the stairs, only to hear Jim yelling loudly about a diversion.

"Protect the city! He's coming in another way!" They hear him yell. "Get ready to fight!"

"What happened, where's Angor Rot?" Claire asks as she rushes to the stairs, just as Jim is rushing down.

"There he is!" A troll yells, pointing to a set for stairs where the troll assassin was descending.

"Angor!" Jim yells loudly.

"Trollhunter! I have some friends I'd like you to meet!" The troll says before flinging something into the chasm. The floor began shaking wildly as large creatures made of glowing stones arose and started advancing towards them.

"You get to Angor, we got this!" Claire yells as one of the creatures gets close and she strikes it in the chest.

Shadowflight bounds after Jim as they run towards the enemy. Some of the glowing rock creatures try blocking them, but one swipe of Jim's sword and a blast to the chest from Shadowflight gave them enough room to keep advancing until they got close to Angor. 

"When will you learn that Daylight is mine to command!" The troll yells as Jim's sword suddenly vanished from his hand. The armor suddenly began to glow gold and the sword immediately vanished from his hands, reappearing in Jim's hands. "No!"

"Guess I should thank you for giving me the "stink eye"!" Jim jokes as he pokes the amulet on his chest.

Angor gives a loud roar as he lunges at the human, swiping at him with his knife as Jim blocks and dodged the attacks. Shadowflight kept himself to the back of the assassin, whacking him with his tail and swiping with his talons to give Jim the chance to get him when his back was turned.

"You destroyed my soul hunter, now I shall harvest yours!" Angor yells as a loud honking noise is heard.

"It's not hunter Angor, it's  _ hunters _ !" Jim yells as Shadowflight grabs him by the arm to yank him out of the way of Blinky, who drove a car right into the assassin and crushed him underneath.

"I drove! Did you see?!" Blinky yells as he stuck his head out of the car's window. "I drove a human automobile! What a thrill!!"

His happiness was short-lived as Angor suddenly lifts the car and flung it, sending it crashing towards the stairs. Shadowflight cringes at the sight, hoping he was okay at least. But right now was not the time to be focused on Blinky if these glowing rock things were surrounding him and Jim as quickly as they took them down. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the assassin troll looking towards Toby, who was struggling to lift his weapon. Shadowflight gave a loud roar of alarm as the troll flung a knife towards the small human and bolts towards him, ignoring Jim yelling for his friend. Before he could even reach the human, Aaarrggh just right in the way of the knife that flew right into his chest.

"No!!!" Toby screams as his friend starts to turn to stone before his eyes and rushes over to him. "Aaarrggh?"

"Wingman…" the troll murmurs before he turns to stone completely.

Shadowflight soon reaches the two and nudges the statue, hoping his friend would respond, but Aaarrggh remained motionless. The dragon croons pitifully and looks to Toby.

"I'm gonna kill you!" He suddenly screams, grabbing his hammer and ran at Angor, swinging at him wildly and missing him while screaming.

"I destroyed your soul, your fight is with me!" Jim yells as he runs towards them before Angor could strike his friend. "Not them!"

"As you wish Trollhunter!" Angor sneers as he blasts something at Jim, who immediately takes off into the city, Angor right on his heels. Shadowflight follows, snagging Jim and tossing him onto his back to ride.

"The Forge! That place!" His human yells as Shadowflight dodged another blast for Angor. The dragon did as he ordered, rushing towards an area with a sign in shape of a glowing fist that Jim pointed to.

Jim held on as his dragon ran over the bridge and immediately flung one of his metal boomerangs to hit the activation button. The Forge whirled to life, the floors shaking and lifting as he immediately leaps from Shadowflight's back to grab onto one of the elevated floors.

"Clever hunter!" He hears Angor sneer as he rushed for higher ground. "Just you and me now!"

Jim leapt and dodged the blasts sent in his direction, leaping onto the changing floors of the Forge. He couldn't see Shadowflight or Angor anywhere, but he knew they were close. He heard a loud yell and barely turned to see Angor fly at him, hitting him right in the chest and knocking him right to the floor.

"The Heroes Forge, more like a cowards grave." The assassin sneers as Jim gets to his feet.

The Trollhunter glances up to see something rippling in the air on the moving floor panel behind Angor and a familiar pair of bright blue eyes that were looking straight at him. With a loud yell, Jim rushed at Angor and swung Daylight. The assassin dodged his attacks. He heard a roar as Shadowflight emerged and leapt at Angor, clawing at his face and attempting to bite his head before he was thrown to the floor with a loud thud. Jim leaps back as Angor attacks, but not quick enough for the assassin to knock Daylight out of his hands and send it flying into the chasm.

"Enough of your games!" The troll sneers as he knocks Jim to the floor next to Shadowflight and began to chant softly. Suddenly, everything in the forge began to collapse and fall back into its place, sending the two falling. Jim felt his dragon grab for him before they both painfully hit the floor.

"Do you ever wonder how you lived this long?" Angor asks as he drops to the floor and sends a blast of energy at them, earning a pained yelp from the dragon as he is tossed, releasing Jim in the process. "The only reason you're alive is because you let your loved ones fall in your place! Your teacher, the changeling! Your mother! Your dragon!"

Every mention was another blast at Jim that he kept trying to dodge. He could hear his friends on the blocked off entrance of the Forge yelling his name and trying to get through, and out of the corner of his eye he could see Shadowflight attempting to get up but kept collapsing onto the floor in pain.

"And now your simple friend Aaarrggh, is dead!"

"No!!" Jim screams, Daylight reappearing in his hand as he swung the sword at Angor, only for him to knock him back onto his knees.

"But where are your loved ones now, hunter?" The assassin sneers as he draws out his blade.

"Up here rock head!" The two look up in time to see Toby emerging from a shadow portal with his hammer. With Angor distracted, Jim took the opportunity to kick his hand that held the knife to plunge it into his chest. As his body turned to stone, Toby brought his hammer down on Angor's neck, causing his whole body to crumble and fall to the floor in a pile of stone. 

Jim gives a sigh of relief as he gets to his feet, walking over to Toby as he brought his hammer down on the broken pieces of Angor for good measure. He hears a small warble and both turn to see Shadowflight limping towards them, but giving them one of his gummy smiles.

"Jim!" Jim looks the other way to see Claire, Blinky and Draal hurrying towards him and Toby. Claire throws her arms around him in a tight hug, which he returns. "Is he really...gone?" She asks him, looking to the pile of stones.

"He better be." He responds.

"Yeah, he better be." Toby agrees before kicking the pile of rocks.

They gasp and jerk back as blue smoke and bright blue orbs of lights began to emerge from the stones, little whips of voices murmuring as they flew up into the air.

"Who are they?" Claire asks in awe as they watch the glowing orbs merged together and a figure with large horns wearing armor similar to Jim appears before them.

"These are the spirits of our fallen breatheren, Trollhunters who lost both soul and life to Angor Rot." The figure responds. "Our brothers and sisters shall take their proper place in the Void and rest in peace, thanks to you James Lake Junior. And your friends, you were right. You are stronger together, we are in your debt. But the day will come Trollhunter, when you must finish the fight alone."


	12. Into The Darklands

"...and it's done." Jim murmurs as he removes the eye of Gunmar from the whetstone to examine the small glowing blue stone that could now fit in his armor. He holds it up to Vendel, who nods in approvement before placing the tongs down on the table and grabs his amulet from his pocket. "So, what will this do?"

"There's only one way to find out." Vendel responds as Jim tucks the gem into his pocket. "With this final stone, you can finally go into the Darklands and rescue the stolen children, including Claire's brother. I do hope you and your friends are ready for the dangers ahead in the place, though I think you dragon will do fine in there."

"Why is that?" Jim asks, glancing over to Shadowflight, who was asleep in the corner of the room. He cringed at the sight of the bandages where his dragon got burned from Angor's magic, wishing he could have done more to protect him. Attempting to keep his mother and Strickler's promise to keep him safe was probably going to get him killed, which is definitely not what he wanted.

"Tobias mentioned he was descended from an extinct species, and earlier I actually found this that gave me some hope that he'd be able to protect you better in the Darklands." Vendel walks over to a bookshelf and pulls out a black leather covered book with odd writing on the cover and what looked like a carving of a dragon. "Turns out we actually had a book detailing information about dragons back to the Old World days before they disappeared. We actually had a few trolls in our tribe who were brave enough to get close to dragons and study them properly. Open to that brown bookmark there."

Jim takes the book and opens it to where Vendel told him to. On the pages was a detailed drawing of what looked like a Night Fury crouched in a pouncing position surround by scribbles in a mix of trollish and some other language he couldn't even understand.

"It says here that Night Furies once lived in the Darklands, before a human accidentally released them into the world, bringing chaos, destruction and even death upon trolls and humans." Jim read aloud. "This thing doesn't even look that much a Night Fury, it's tail is all weird and it has a lot more spikes on its body."

"Apparently over the centuries they grew a bit tamer and lost their wild appearance, evolving in a way. This is apparently what they looked like before going extinct." Vendel says as he turns the page to reveal a more familiar looking dragon. "Not much information on this one I'm afraid, or on the species of your friend."

"Night Light dragons were a new species of dragons, no one really knew about the other species of Fury that brought them to the world with the help of the last Night Fury." Jim explains and gestures to his dragon. "Shadowflight is descended from the first Night Light Furies, this old book I have at home actually mentions them but there's no detailed information on them anywhere."

"Well perhaps when you return from the Darklands, hopefully intact and not dead, you can perhaps fill in the blank pages in the back of the book on information you've learned from your dragon about his species."

Jim shuts the book and looks over to his sleeping dragon. It seemed like a nice idea, something he remembered Toby and Claire wanting to do a while back after they first met Shadowflight. Kind of like what Hiccup the III did in that old storybook of his. But he wasn't even sure how long it'd take for them to journey through the Darklands, and the last thing he wanted was to put any of his friends in danger. So many of his loved ones already got hurt ever since he picked up that amulet, and he wasn't about to let the ones he still had get hurt this time.

As he placed the book on the table, Jim walks over to Shadowflight and kneels down to gently stroke his head. The dragon gives a little snort and opens an eye to give him a soft warble before lifting his head up.

"You feeling a bit better?" Jim asks as he gently scratches his dragon under the chin, earning himself a happy warble. "Get some rest, you did enough tonight."

Shadowflight gave a yawn before dropping his head back onto the floor, knowing he needed his rest. Jim smiles before standing up and hurrying out of the room. Vendel had already left, probably going through the city to check on its inhabitants. His friends were busy somewhere else, probably getting ready for the journey to the Darklands,so right now he still had time to do what he was planning to do.

The vault holding the pieces of the bridge was unguarded at the moment, so he was easily able to slip inside with no problem. He is a few steps from the pile of broken stone when he draws out both the amulet and the eye stone. The back opens up to reveal the three other stones and the empty spaces waiting to hold the new stone, before he drops it into one of the spaces. The amulet begins to glow red as the hands and gears began spinning and a new set of words appeared on the rim and he began to recite it.

"For the doom of Gunmar, eclipse is mine to command!" He shouts, his voice echoing off the walls of the vault. Three glowing orbs emerged from the amulet and flew into his chest before he levitated off the floor, surrounded by red mist. His armor appears and fly onto him, now black with dark red patterns, probably to help him blend into the darkness of the Darklands. Pleased with his transformation, Jim removes his amulet from his chest and begins to walk towards the bridge when he hears someone calling for him. He immediately hurries to hit the closing switch of the vault before his friends could even enter, locking them out and locking him inside.

"Jim no! You promised we'd go together!" He hears Claire yell, followed by a panicked roar from Shadowflight.

"The amulet chose me, I can't lose anymore of you." He says before walking towards the bridge, trying to ignore the cries of his friends and dragon begging him to open the vault and not leave.

The teen immediately rushed back to the bridge and held his amulet out to it, now starting to glow a bright blue as it rose from his hand. The bridge began to assemble itself until it was fully formed, just as it was in the museum along with a bright glowing portal underneath it.

"Come on Jimbo we're a team! Don't do this!" Toby yells from the other side of the vault. "Please open up!"

"I'm sorry, I have to finish the fight!" He yells back. "Alone. The amulet chose me. I’m sorry.”

Jim took a step forward into the portal and fell forward onto one knee before getting up. The portal was gone now, all he could hear were the muffled voices of his friends, mentor and dragon, all crying out for him to return. He walks forward, surveying his new surroundings. The Darklands were...well, dark and very vast. There was no going back now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of the season 1 focused chapters. Hopefully later this month I'll start publishing the chapters focused on season 2 and when I get the chance I'll do season 3 as well.  
However once I finish the season 3 chapters, the book will be coming to an end. But fear not, I will be writing a sequel focused on the events after season 3 and the events that take place in Wizards! Probably will do it later this year or sometime early next year so you can all avoid spoilers for Wizards
> 
> So stay tuned!


	13. Escape From The Darklands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still can't believe it's been nearly a year since I actually published this story and I've managed to get this far with it! Onto season 2!

Ever since Jim disappeared into the Darklands, Shadowflight hadn’t even bothered to leave his spot under the bridge. He’d pace the room all day, pawing at the floor occasionally as if he thought Jim was trapped under stone and he could get him out if he scratched hard enough. Draal or Blinky would try to lure him outside to at least eat, but even promises of his favorite food would not even get the sad dragon to leave the safe except to use the bathroom.

“This is just sad, he looks like a dog waiting for his owner to come back from a long trip they’ll never return from!” Toby exclaims as he threw another tennis ball at the Fury, only for it to bounce off his head and not get any kind of reaction. “And it really hurts to watch!”

"He's sad Toby, he really misses Jim like we do." Claire says as she walks over to the dragon and kneels down next to him. Shadowflight gave a small warble and lifted his head to place it on her lap as she gently scratched him between the ears in a soothing manner. "Don't worry, Jim will be back soon.”

"I hope so, I don't know how long I can keep up the act with his mom." Toby groans as he hurries over to pick up the tennis ball. "I think she's starting to get suspicious, but I can't tell yet."

Shadowflight gave a sad croon and looks up at Claire sadly. He didn't like seeing his humans looking sad like this, or the trolls. Their normally happy behavior had disappeared along with Jim, and back before the disappearance of his human he was the one to often try and cheer them up with some funny antics or give them one of his toys so he could play with them. Maybe he should probably try cheering them up again, make them at least smile a bit more so Jim won't have to come back to a sad group of friends.

He immediately gets to his feet and walks over to Toby before gently prying the ball from his hands and walks over to the entrance of the vault. He gives a little roar and tossed the ball at the human, hoping he'd pick up on what he was trying to do. A smile came to Toby's lips as he picks up the ball and tossed it to Shadowflight, who immediately slaps it back to him with his tail. He hears Claire laugh as the two begin tossing and smacking the ball back and forth to each other before it sailed over Shadowflight's head and hit the stairs before bouncing down. The dragon gave an annoyed huff before scurrying off after the ball, startling some of the trolls who were walking past before he managed to get his paws on the toy before it got kicked away. Satisfied, Shadowflight picks it up and walks back to Toby and Claire, who were waiting for him at the bottom of the steps of the vault.

"Thanks for trying to cheer us up buddy, we really needed that." Toby says as Shadowflight drops the tennis ball back into his hands and gives him a scratch under his chin in his favorite spot.

"We're gonna head to Blinky and see how he's doing, wanna come?" Claire asks. "Unless you wanna head back into the vault and sulk for a bit longer."

The Night Light gave another huff and nudged her in the direction of the library. He was already getting sick of the musty smell of the vault (and he probably was starting to smell like it too now), so maybe staying out of it for a few days would at least help. Plus, he needed to go cheer Blinky up right now, out of all of them the six-eyed troll really needed it.

They found him inside his library muttering to himself and smacking his forehead in frustration, the body of Aaarrggh standing nearby.

"Any luck Blink?" Claire asks as they enter and he shook his head.

"The usual, I'm never short on plans. But a working one, no I must say it is most frustrating without any options." The older troll responds. "What about you Tobias, any fortune with the Fetch?"

"I've been sticking my head through this thing everywhere in Arcadia, all I see is endless Darklands. No Jim!" Toby responds, waving a round hoop shaped object with pale green crystals poking out of it before pulling out a candy from his pocket. "But I have been Nugat Nummies to let him know we haven't given up, and to provide a boost of nourishment."

Shadowflight gave a soft croon as he walks over to the older troll and nudged one of his hands before walking over to Toby, who's happy mood from earlier had dropped and nudged his hand with his nose.

"As my brother Dictatious used to say," Blinky says before saying something in some language Shadowflight had never heard before.

"Even the word hopeless..." Claire says quietly.

"Isn't void of hope." Blinky finished and smiled. "Glad to see you still know your Trollish. Which is precisely why we musn't give up on helping master Jim! Our adventures have taken one friend from us, we must not lose another. The answer to saving Jim is in here somewhere!”

As Claire and Blinky were busy combing through the books, Shadowflight decided to try and help by carefully pulling random books off the shelves that he thought would be helpful and placing them on the table.

“Hey! What the heck?!” The dragon hears something fall to the floor and turns to find Toby getting off the floor and waving some oddly shaped object. “Who turned my warhammer into a backscratcher?”

“After witnessing your troubles handling it, I thought to stabilize its unpredictability and make it as you might say,” Blinky takes the object from the teen and gives it a swing, causing it to light up and expand. “Fun sized!”

“Pocket hammer!” Toby gasped as he began playing with it, expanding and shrinking the weapon to elevate and drop him before a loud horn sounds, causing him to fall to the floor in surprise. “Holy horns what’s that?”

Curious, the four of them head to the entrance of the library to see a crowd of trolls standing on either side of the road. Toby and Shadowflight manage to squeeze to the front of the crowd to see a line of four trolls followed by Vendel, one carrying what looked like a plate with a pile of rocks.

“Whoa, all the troll heavyweights are here!” Toby gasps as Claire and Blinky push their way to the front of the crowd. “Hey! Wise Whampa lady!” A short green troll stopped walking to look over in their direction before continuing to walk on.

“Who summoned the tribunal, Vendel?” Blinky asks as the elder walks past them.

“The tribunal summoned themselves.” Vendel responds as Blinky follows, with CLaire, Toby and Shadowflight behind them. “Word of the Trollhunter’s stupidity to enter the Darklands has spread like the plague! And now they are calling for the destruction of KIllahead Bridge.”

Shadowflight felt a surge of anger rise inside him. His human had gone into that bridge to keep these trolls safe, and now these same creatures want to destroy it?! This was not happening, not if he and the others could help it!

“There goes our hope.” Claire mutters as the elder troll walks off after the other troll leaders.

“We must keep searching, master Jim’s time is running out!” Blinky says before following after Vendel.

“So what do we do now?” Toby asks once the elders have disappeared from view. “We can’t just go back into the library and sit around doing nothing!”

“I think Shadowflight has an idea.” Claire says when she noticed the NIghtlight lowering himself to the ground and spread his wings out. “Do you want us...to climb on?”

Shadowflight gives a warble and a nod, before motioning to his back with his head. The two teens look at each other before they climb on, Toby sitting in the front with Claire right behind him and holding on tight. Shadowflight stands up before quickly walking away from the bridge leading to the Heartstone where the trolls had entered.

“Wait what’s he even doing?” Toby asks in confusion. Before Claire could even respond, Shadowflight checked behind him before spreading his wings and kicked off into the air. Both teens screamed in terror as they held on as Shadowflight took them through the air. “THIS IS NOT WHAT I HAD IN MIND!” Toby yells.

“Hold on! Land us where there are no guards!” Claire yells over the rush of the wind.

Shadowflight manages to land them on a building several feet from the bridge and lowers himself to the ground to let the humans dismount. He wasn’t used to carrying that much weight on his back, last time it was just Jim but he wasn’t even flying him. He could hear the two humans gasping for breath and turned to find them collapsed on the floor. He growls loudly before motioning for them to follow him, hoping they could find a way into the giant glowing stone.

“I see no reason for your impatience, he may still be alive!” The three hear Vendel says as they crept through the glowing crystals that led into the room. “There has been no other Trollhunter chosen, why do we have to move now?”

“We cannot allow the child’s folly to endanger all of trollkind!” Shadowflight hears one of the trolls say, one of the three females he had seen walking to the Heartstone.

“Foolish he was to go in alone.” Another female voice states. “Should not have gone at all!”

“If Gunmar finds the boy, what’s stopping him from getting out?” A third female voice asks as the three settle themselves behind some rocks to conceal themselves. Shadowflight could now see the four trolls, but why was there even a plate of broken rocks seated on the table?

“Kilahead Bridge is locked in the vault!” Vendel argues. “And it’s being guarded by one of the Trollhunter’s companions, so there’s no need to worry!”

“Like a vault will stop Gunmar.” One of the trolls, a strange looking one wearing robes and had odd glowing designs on her face and arms, scoffs as the pile of rocks suddenly begin to float and arrange themselves to look like a large face with glowing eyes.

“Tear it down and let the flesh thing perish in the Darklands!” The stone face snaps. “Your toy amulet will choose another!”

“Those ungrateful turds!” Toby hisses angrily. “We don’t have a say about Jim but volcano guy does?”

Shadowflight growls in agreement as the troll elders continue to argue back and forth. These trolls would have been dead if it weren’t for Jim and they weren’t even in charge of him like Vendel was, why did they have a choice in his fate when he had been doing nothing but keeping them all safe? If only there was a way to make them listen.

“I am astounded at what I’m hearing!” Blinky shouts as they watch him jump to his feet to approach the other trolls. “Master Jim’s deeds may be brash yes, but in his short time of bearing the sacred mantel, the Trollhunter slayed Bular the Vicious, rallied Trollmarket against Angor Rot, uncovered the changelings in our midst, and captured the very bridge you now wish to make his tomb! So many times he has granted our kind mercy, saved us from ourselves, I don’t merely ask that we keep the bridge standing, I  _ demand  _ we go in after him!”

_ Now that’s a moving speech that could even sway the most stubborn of dragons! _ Shadowflight thought and grinned.

“Very moving Blinkous, but answer me this: who is to say this “human” isn’t a changeling who went in to free Gunmar?” The floating stones asks and Shadowflight had to grab Toby by the back of his shirt to hold him back while Claire tried to cover his mouth to keep them from being discovered. Thankfully, Blinky was able to convey their exact emotion to the ridiculous accusation.

“I see no proof otherwise!” One of the female trolls states and Shadowflight immediately released Toby.

“How dare you!” Claire yells as she jumps into view with the other two right behind her. “You were the ones who said he had to answer every call!”

“He went in to hunt down Gunmar!” Toby adds angrily. “The one troll the rest of you are too scared to deal with!”

“Ugh not these two, they’re always a pain in my rear!” The rocks grumbled before noticing Shadowflight. "What, in the name of Deya is  _ that _ ?"

" _ He _ is our friend!" Toby retorts as he, Claire and Blinky stand in front of the dragon. “And he’s Jim’s friend too, the one Vendel mentioned was guarding the bridge and waiting for him to return! Do you even have any idea how sad it is to see a moping dragon sitting or laying in front of that bridge and having to hear you want to destroy it before his first human friend can come back?!”

"That's a dragon, get rid of it!" The glowing blue robed troll hissed angrily. "We've had to deal with those creatures for centuries, how is it still even alive?"

"That's none of your concern Ursurna, he's simply nothing more than the Trollhunter's companion and guardian." Vendel states. "And he's helped the boy many times and risked his own life to keep him safe." 

"If he's the boys guardian, why isn't it with him then?" The stones asks, casting the dragon a glare.

Shadowflight snarls in response and pushes past his friends before Vendel grabs the back of his neck.

“Careful Gato, you’ve heard the old stories of how dragons can easily kill a troll. I’m sure this one will be no different to that body of yours if he keeps hearing you talk disrespectfully about the Trollhunter.” He warns as he pulls him back towards the two humans, who were being grabbed by some large troll guards.

“If you boot them from these proceedings, you may as well do the same to me!” Blinky snaps. The four were dragged out and immediately tossed onto the street in response. “Scum of the earth!”

“Come on, we have to stop them from destroying the bridge!” Claire says as she helps Toby to his feet while Shadowflight helps Blinky to his. “Shadowflight flew us here but I don’t think he could handle your weight Blinky.”

“That’s all fine, wasn’t really a fan of flying, no offense.” Blinky says as he brushes the dirt off his suspenders. “But you are right, we must make haste! Shadowflight has left the bridge unguarded and no doubt the council has sent some of Ursurna’s guards to destroy the bridge as soon as they give the word!”

The four race across the bridge and through Trollmarket where the vault was, only to find Draal standing in front of the door with a bored expression on his face.

“Whoa there younglings, I’m afraid the vault is off limits until the Tribuneral ends.” The blue troll says as they managed to reach the top of the stairs.

“Draal, the Tribuneral is going to tear down the bridge with Jim in it!” Toby gasps as he stops climbing.

“Bushagal! They can’t do that!” Draal protests as he turns to press his hand to the door to open it. “They’re not going to get through us!”

Shadowflight could hear footsteps approaching and looks over his shoulder to see some of the trolls with hammers racing towards the vault.

“Break the controls!” Blinky yells frantically.

“You know, if only I had a portable warhammer…” Toby says with a grin before removing his device from earlier from his back pocket. “Oh wait I do!”

The five were now locked inside the vault and stood themselves in front of the bridge, prepared to protect it at all costs. They could hear the sound of the guards hammering on the door before it opens.

“The Tribuneral shall discuss matters of your ousting after this Vendel!” They hear someone say before the female troll with the robes descends the steps with Vendel and some Krubera guards behind them. The second the guards had gotten close, both Draal and Shadowflight leapt right into action. Draal got knocked back by the hammer of the guard he had leapt at, but Shadowflight managed to avoid the hammer of his and tackled them. He held on tightly as the troll tried to throw him off, but after all his play fighting with Aaarrgghh had prepared him for this sort of fighting, grabbing onto the troll’s horns with his teeth and digging his claws into the stony flesh for a better grip.

“You’re condemning the boy!” He heard Blinky shout before the troll managed to throw the dragon right off.

“Wait! The amulet! He’s coming through!” Toby screams as Shadowflight tries to get up. Indeed the bridge was now glowing a bright blue and a large swirling vortex appeared under it.

“Tear it down, now!” The female troll yells as two more guards rush forward to stride the bridge.

“We’re here! We’re right here!” Shadowflight perks up at the voice coming out from the bridge, followed by a wailing cry

“Enrique! Stop that’s my brother! Claire yells as she vaults over the guard blocking her from getting though. Shadowflight manages to slip past them to rush to the bridge with Claire, frantically searching for Jim.

“We’re here! We’re here!” He hears Jim scream as they get close.

"Jim!" Claire yelled as Shadowflight held onto the back of her jacket to keep her from going farther. He could hear his human yelling for Claire as she struggled to get through the portal that was now rapidly closing

“A little more! Just a little more!” Shadowflight could see Jim through the portal now, reaching for Claire as he held a wailing bundle in his arms before he was suddenly yanked away by an armored creature. Shadowflight could hear the bridge crumbling overhead and yanks Claire back just in time as the bridge groans and collapses.

Shadowflight hears a babbling noise and sits up to see Claire holding the bundle he had seen Jim holding, and clutching it to her chest. He looks back to the bridge, now destroyed. Getting up, he walks over to the broken stones, pawing at it and warbling, hoping Jim was trapped somewhere under the rubble and still alive. He hears a soft humming sound and looks down to find the amulet on the ground, glowing faintly.

_ I...I failed...I failed him… _ He thinks as he drops to the ground to pick up and looks to his friends, all being escorted out of the vault. He could see the female troll...smirking? to herself before turning away to follow the other trolls out.

“Shadowflight, you can’t stay in here.” Shadowflight looks up to see Vendel approach him with a mournful expression. “I know you’re upset, I know you and your friends tried to save your friend. Don’t blame yourself little one, the amulet hasn’t lost its light yet, there is still hope.”


End file.
